Curse and Destiny
by Torchwood85
Summary: He had in death bound them together with a kiss, something he shouldnt' have done. But with a misbehaving TARDIS, an immortal who can't keep his hands to himself and a whole host of companions, what lies in store for our fearless time travellers. 10Rose.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One.

Of all the strange and unusual things that had taken place during her travels with a certain Lord of Time, this, Rose thinks has to be one of the strangest and he still hadn't mentioned why he was doing what he was. The alien in question was dangled precariously into one of the deeper chasms under the console room floor, suspended from the grating and one of the TARDIS coral struts.

"You alright Doctor?" she asked looking over into the hole from her position on the jump seat as another stream of incomprehensible alien expletives resounded through the console room muffled by the sonic screwdriver which she knew would be clenched between his teeth. She got up; marking the page she'd been reading with a tattered old piece of leather and rummaged through the toolbox next to the console. Finding what she was after she moved to the hole just as the Doctor poked his head up out of the floor.

"Rose can you pass me..." She handed him the item she'd retrieved from the toolbox and he stared blankly as she sat back down and continued reading her book with great interest.

"How'd you know I needed the laser spanner?" he questioned raising an eyebrow in suspicion. She giggled at him as Jack came parading back into the console room.

"Doctor there are only ever three tools you use in that entire toolbox, and we've been with you long enough to know that when you start swearing it means the sonic screwdriver isn't doing what you think it should be." Jack laughed as Rose lifted her legs unconsciously to accommodate him sitting down on the jump seat next to her.

"Which means since you're not actually flying, the mallet is out; therefore logically the spanner is the only other option right Jack?" Jack grinned and Rose continued reading as the Doctor rolled his eyes and disappeared back into the depths of the ship.

"Oh you think you're both so impressive." The Doctor yelled sarcastically from under the floor.

"We are." Jack and Rose stated in unison before erupting in a fit of giggles.

"Oh very funny, let's all have a laugh at my expense hmmmmm?" The Doctor groaned as he pulled himself out the floor and began disconnecting his harness while Jack jumped up to replace the grating.

"Sorry Doctor but sometimes you just leave yourself wide open." Rose laughed shoving her book into the back of the seat. "What were you doing down there anyways?"

"Weeelll, the old girl isn't as young as she used to be so I thought maybe she'd behave a little less erratic if I removed some of the residue from the lower levels of the rotor mechanisms. Plus she's been begging me for the last few years to do something about some of her, ah...more personal ...maintenance, ahem...issues ." The Doctor turned away from Rose and began to flick switches on the console attempting to hide the faint blush that crept up his neck to taint the tips of his ears.

"Doctor?" Jack queried raising a questioning eyebrow, "You don't mea..."

"She has needs too you know." The Doctor snapped waving his hand in a general gesture to the whole console which Rose though was just the slightest tinge of pink. "Doctor...is she...is the TARDIS...blushing?"

"Well do you blame her? She is alive Rose and I just blabbed out about..." The Doctor was getting agitated and both Rose and Jack new he wished he had said nothing about the needs of his ship, especially considering the smirk Jack had plastered all over his face.

"So Doctor, you and the..." Jack began, "Oh shut up Jack." The  
Doctor paced around the console flipping more switches and pulling levers until the ship groaned a little as he set her to rest in the vortex.

Rose ran her fingers lightly across the organic components on the console silently conveying her understanding to the ship that was her friend and once again her home. She smiled as the lights dimmed a little near where she was touching the ship.

"Rose that's not helping." The Doctor whispered in her ear as he spun past her so close she felt goose bumps raise on the back of neck. "Sorry." She muttered while sending a silent apology to the TARDIS.

"So the TARDIS needs some 'maintenance' anything I can help with?" Jack smirked again not able to help himself sending a quite implicit image of polishing her struts which bounced straight to the TARDIS and through her link with the Doctor.

"Oi." The Doctor looked up at Jack. "Stop corrupting my ship Harkness. Besides you're not her type." Jack laughed and raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Not quite big enough on the inside for ya am I girl?" Rose and the Doctor looked at each other as they rolled their eyes at him and couldn't quite help the giggle that emerged from the opposite side of the console.

"Poor Jack, never know when to quit do you?"

"Ah she loves it." Jack smiled and the console room lights dimmed slightly causing him to laugh again and the Doctor to roll his eyes indulgently. Rose moved towards the interior corridor, "Well I'm beat, gonna go grab a shower and see what the old girl has for us to eat. Meet you both in the kitchen later yea?"

"Sure you don't need any help Rosie?" Jack winked as the Doctor glared at him through the time rotor. "You're relentless you know." Rose yelled from the corridor not turning to look but waving as she disappeared. "Later."

The Doctor sighed and shook his head as Jack turned to look at his friend, their eyes met and they both broke into uncontrollable laughter as the Doctor pulled on the hand brake and the two made their way up the gangway, "You never know one day it might work." Jack put his arm round his friend good naturedly as both men continued down the corridor to the kitchen. "Not a chance Jack, not a chance." Jacks bark of laughter echoed through the ship.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The Doctor and Jack sat at the kitchen table drinking their respective cups of tea discussing the merits of quantifying the helmic regulator, while Rose who had emerged shortly after they got there clean and dressed in her pink pyjamas, pottered about the kitchen. The TARDIS who seemed to have recovered from the events in the console room earlier had taken it upon herself to prepare them something from her vast stores of alien delicacies and as her occupants were almost entirely human had a roast crackling away in the rotisserie and a collection of mostly Earth orientated accompaniments. Rose helped by pulling gravy from the equivalent of a microwave and plonked it down along with plates and things onto the table in front of them and slid in next to the Doctor.

He turned and smiled at her as she folded her legs up underneath her and sipped her tea, made perfectly for her by the Doctor before she'd even got to the kitchen. It was just the right temperature and she sighed as the hot liquid warmed her.

"Alright?" The Doctor whispered and she grinned back. "Oh yes." Jack smiled indulgently and sipped his tea quietly. The sound of their dinner finishing brought them out of their own little world and Rose brought their food to the table. With plates piled high the trio began their feast and the conversation flowed. They spoke of all the adventures they'd been on since they'd last seen each other, and Jack had spoken at length about his new team and their valiant efforts to keep Earth safe in the Doctors absence, obvious to both Rose and The Doctor just how proud he was of his team and all that he had accomplished without them but never without a thought of them, everything Jack did was for the both of them. They sat in companionable silence as they finished their meal. Rose gathered their plates and began washing up as thanks to the TARDIS for the meal and she hummed appreciatively making Rose giggle.

The Doctor was watching her intently as he felt Jack nudge the edges of his mind. The Doctor sighed and used his own ability to strengthen Jack's weak telepathy. _"What?" _The Doctor spoke into Jack's mind irritably, all the time his eyes never leaving the back of Rose. Jack looked slightly startled as the Doctor's voice echoed around his head. _"Well this is new." _Jack mentally smirked and the Doctor absently wondered if Jack was capable of anything that wasn't smothered in innuendo. _"Oh stop it, besides, you were the one trying to poke your nose into my head Jack so out with it." _Jack thought for a moment, and the Doctor could feel the impending question before Jack had even arranged it into a conscious thought. _"To answer your question, which I might add could have been asked simply when we were alone and not in the privacy of __**my **__mind thank you very much Harkness, is no...not that it's any of your business Jack..." _The Doctor mentally launched Jack out of his mind and out of his chair before Jack could even mount an argument, but the Doctor had seen it before he had know his reply and this was why he was now in the middle of the kitchen floor, slightly dazed.

Rose turned to look at Jack sprawled out on the floor and reached out a hand to help him up. "What the hell are you doin' on the floor, you been sneakin' hypervodka into ya tea again?" Jack laughed awkwardly and adjusted himself back into his chair.

"Perhaps what you need is a good night sleep Jack." The  
Doctor suggested over the rim of his tea, all the while his eyes burning into the other man in a warning to not push the subject ever again. "Yea maybe I do." Jack agreed heeding the warning and sending a mental apology in the Doctors direction. The Doctor nodded slightly. "Goodnight Jack."

"Doctor, he nodded back, goodnight Rosie." He hugged her goodnight and disappeared into the corridor. They sat together for a while sipping the last remnants of their tea and knowing Jack was out of earshot Rose began giggling. The Doctor raised an eyebrow in her direction, the corners of his mouth turning up just slightly which made her giggle even harder.

"And what are you giggling about hmm?" He asked as she got up from the table to rinse her mug out and place it in the rack to dry.

"He must have asked the wrong question to get a shove like that." She laughed taking his mug and placing it next to hers. "I don't believe I have any idea what your implying Ms Tyler." She rolled her eyes and he stuffed his hands in his pockets as they headed for the door. "Yea right, you two were as quiet as mice, then he's on the floor, I know a mental shove when I see it Doctor."

"Yea well, he should have kept his mind to himself; I think about enough that I can do without the continuous streams of innuendo that emits from his thoughts. Talk about mind in the gutter." He sighed as she took his hand and she smiled. They walked through the corridors until Rose stopped at the doors to the library.

"Ah, a little hint eh, miss?" Rose's tongue was poking suspiciously through her teeth. "Pleeeeeeeease Doctor, I'm not even tired yet, just one, please." He rolled his eyes knowing he wouldn't be able to say no to those brown eyes that seemed to see right into his soul some days. "Oh alright," He conceded and she giggled excitedly as she pushed the big wooden doors open and practically skipped to the big brown chair in the corner "but just one." The Doctor shut the doors and moved to pull an old dusty book from a shelf several rows back on the right hand side. When he returned to the chair she was curled up with a pillow allowing only enough room for him to sit down if he pulled her half onto his lap. She grinned up at him and moved onto the arm of the chair while he sat down, adjusted the book on the opposite arm and pulled her in next to him, her head cradled in his shoulder while his arm wrapped protectively around her. He smiled down at her and began to read:

"_A pleasing land of drowsy head it was, Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye; And of gay castles in the clouds that pass, Forever flushing round a summer sky." _

Rose snuggled closer into his suit jacket and breathed him in as the sound of his voice reverberating through his chest and the gentle thrum of his double heart beats lulled her to sleep.

"_In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored..."_

Rose was dreaming happily when the Doctor gently lifted her from the chair in the library to the soft nest of pillows that was her bed. His bed coincidentally as upon her return to him the TARDIS had directed her not to her own room, but to his. He hadn't told her as yet but she seemed to sleep better in here than any other part of his great ship, and so he had continued to return her here when she fell asleep watching him fix the console or while they read in the library or even on those occasions when after an adventure she'd fall asleep at the kitchen table next to her tea. He gently moved a stray hair behind her ears and she sighed his name as she slept. He bent and gently whispered into her ear.

"_Aion pitää sinua minua niin kauan kuin minä voin luvata." _He chuckled as she frowned at the sound of his native tongue whisper through her mind. "I will keep you with me for as long as I can, I promise." He pressed a kiss to her temple, pulled the blankets up around her and left her to her dreams.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Rose tried to hold on to the last vestiges of sleep she could and with it her dreams as she kicked off the blankets that cocooned her. It was hot, sticky and quite uncomfortable, which is exactly how she felt considering said dreams regarding a certain Time Lord who will remain nameless, how ironic she thought too. But she knew something was wrong since the TARDIS regulated the temperature within her and if this was happening outside of her dreams, then something was indeed wrong with the TARDIS. It was with this though that she sat bolt upright and scrambled to the edge of the bed. She tied her hair back away from her neck in a messy bun and pulled on a pair of shorts not bothering to change the pink singlet shirt of her pyjamas. She ran for the console room running her fingers along the walls of the ship feeling the temperature fluctuate under her palm and the walls tinging different colours here and there. She flung herself into the console room to see the Doctor circling the console on Jack.

"Doctor what's wrong with the TARDIS?" She yelled breathlessly and he looked up as she came to stand between him and Jack.

"Why don't you ask Jack what's wrong with the TARDIS since it's all his fault she's in this...this...STATE!" He shouted at Jack while running his hand through his already messed brown mop and pacing back and forth between the opposite side of the console and where Rose now stood.

"Jack?" Rose turned and questioned. At least he had the decency to be slightly embarrassed by the whole situation. _ .Crave. _It echoed through her mind. The Doctor looked up just as she turned to face him, his eyes boring into hers. _Make it stop. _She thought she'd also heard. And that's when it clicked.

"Oh my god, she's..." The console tinted crimson as it had the day before and a deep rumble vibrated through the floor while a gush of warm air circled the console. Rose swallowed turning to face the Doctor.

"Doctor, it's done now, how do we fix her?" He gapped at her. "Rose I don't think you quite grasp the magnitude of the situation." She waved him off. "So how do we give the TARDIS the equivalent of a cold shower?" Rose began to pace running her fingers along the console as she thought. The console radiated bright pink and Rose jerked her hand away as the Doctor growled at her. "Not Helping! Again!"

"So how do you get a TARDIS o...?" Jack was cut off by an infuriated Time Lord. "WHAT! Do not continue that line of thought Jack Harkness, you couldn't even begin to fathom the sheer physics involved in..." Rose placed her hand on the Doctors chest, only beginning to realise how much the Doctor himself had been affected by what was happening to the TARDIS, due to the rapid thumping of his hearts and the barely audible whimper as she touched his chest.

"It's affecting you too." She whispered. If not for his superior hearing he might have missed it. He looked down at her; the beautiful brown orbs of his eyes had melted to black. "Yes."

For a moment she was lost in them but dragged her eyes away to look at Jack.

"The TARDIS is telepathic right Doctor." She glanced behind her briefly and he gave a barely noticeable nod, eyes still locked on Jack, glaring.

"Right so Jack's fault, Jack fixes, yea." She looked at Jack who seemed to not be following.

"God you're dense, your needs right, she picked it up...so...what would you do to resolve the...the tension?" Realisation suddenly dawned on Jack and he grinned.

"So don't just stand there go...go...do it." She gestured wildly as Jack nodded and ran up the gangway and into the ship. She turned to the Doctor who was bracing himself on the console, eyes shut tightly. "Will it work?" She whispered. "Maybe, I don't know it's not something I've ever had to deal with before, I didn't even..." She grabbed his hand and dragged him up into the depths of the TARDIS. "Well we might as well cover all our bases." She babbled as another hot stream of air pulsed through the corridor. She dragged him into the bathroom and before he could comment or even ask what she was doing she shoved him into the shower cubicle and turned the cold water on hard.

Half an hour later Jack emerged from his room, grin plastered ear to ear and gently patted the wall in the corridor. The light dimmed a little, he smirked and apologised, but only slightly. He found Rose in the library with a sleeping Time Lord's head in her lap. She was gently stroking his wet hair and moaned slightly when she stopped as Jack momentarily made her jump as he flopped down into the arm chair opposite them. She continued stroking his hair and he nuzzled into her stomach.

"Cold shower huh?" He gestured at the Doctor.

"Yea." She said softly looking down at the man in her lap. "I see you're grinning like the cat that got the cream." She didn't look up but knew he had the most ridiculous lop sided grin.

"She's still not right you know...she feels wrong." The Doctor murmured so only Rose could hear him, not bothering to move from his place in his companions lap.

"I know, "she whispered back, "But maybe we could take her mind off it you know, go somewhere or even better we could go get Martha and Donna, give her something else to think about, you know how she likes it when she can experience our adventures through our heads yea, well maybe that's just what she needs. Kind of like a diversion." The Doctor looked up at her and considered this option. "You might just be right." He was up in a flash of brown and disappeared down the hall. "Well come on then!" He yelled. Rose laughed as she and Jack raced after him.

An hour later they were all sitting around the table in the kitchen, tea and biscuits in hand, catching up. The TARDIS had, due to the fact that this was for her benefit, rearranged herself so the normally smaller kitchenette contained a large enough table, with chairs to accommodate them all. Rose sat beside Donna, Jack to her left, then Martha, the Doctor and finally Mickey who was ranting across the table at Rose about his and Martha's exploits into the independent alien chasers business. The Doctor was laughing uncontrollably as Donna told him of one of her super-temp escapades which obviously had him in hysterics. Rose watched and couldn't help but laugh at how happy he seemed. She was also quite pleased about the contented hum coming from the ship. The plan seemed to have worked. It was times like this that she wished everything could stay as it was, that time would never move forward and she would never have to ponder over the day when the Doctor and the TARDIS would no longer be with her. _"I love you both so much." _Her mind whispered to the ship, from which she received a happy little buzz from beneath her right foot. It tickled and she laughed. No one noticed this little exchange and her laugh had blended into the conversation and giggles from the others. Well no one noticed except the Doctor anyways who sent a silent query to his ship. She gave him her equivalent of a hug and relayed Rose's message, despite the fact that she was most likely not meant to pass it on. But she was his ship, what she felt he did and this made him smile. It was also at this point that he realised the TARDIS had passed on to him an actual thought rather than just a vague impressions of colours, feelings or pictures like she normally did. _"How did you do that?" _The TARDIS gave the telepathic equivalent of a shrug and continued to hum contentedly in the back of his mind.

This made him curious. With half a though the Doctor let in the chatter of the minds around him. Mickey was thinking about Martha and the ring in his pocket, the Doctor smiled at this _'bout time too'_ he thought as he watched their time lines merge with each other. Jack was talking to Donna about a shop in the second quadrant of the Therese nebula which sold shoes that conform to the wearer's feet for maximum comfort, he was actually thinking about the native he had encountered behind the counter of said store and basically on every surface in the store..._"I'll stay away from that"_ he skimmed past to Donna who was thinking of shoes and the best way to broach the subject of getting the Doctor to take her to purchase said shoes. He grinned and sipped his tea.

Martha was mentally sighing while she told Rose about her adventures with Mickey, she was wondering two things, one was how would Rose react if Mickey did somehow get up the nerve to ask her to marry him and two, why wouldn't he hurry up and just do it. The Doctor nearly snorted his tea through his nose at the impatience coming off her. And then there was Rose. Her mind was barely making a sound while she laughed with Martha.

She was content, as was the ship and he couldn't quite help but wonder just how much the two of them were connected. _"She's so worried about what will happen when Mickey finally asks her, don't know why she'd care what I think, but I'm glad for him, and they'll both be brilliant together." _He knew she was perceptive, which was confirmed as he caught her thought just as she turned and noticed he was watching her over the rim of his cup. She smiled at him _"I wonder if you really do know how much I love you and what I'd give up to stay with you." _He smiled back; she caught the tiny hint of sadness in his eyes before he could hide it away. _"Please don't hide from me?" _Oh she sounded so sad it almost broke his hearts. _"Oh Rose I couldn't hide from you if I tried, you'd find me anywhere you would. I'm so glad I met you."_ Rose smiled a little and stopped for a second as she talked to Martha. "Are you alright Rose?" Martha asked placing a hand on the other woman's arm. "Yea, yea I'm fine. Just had the strangest sense of déjà vu is all. Another time, another place you know..." She assured her as she glanced across at The Doctor. That last thought had been of the other Doctor, piercing blue eyes, close cropped hair and his leather jacket as they faced the Gelth oh so long ago. Rose frowned. "Doctor? Are you alright?" He seemed to realise he was staring and covered himself by reaching for the teapot and snatching another biscuit from the table. "Yes, yes of course I'm alright, never better and you, how's your tea anyone need more?" He welcomed the distraction as the whole table save Rose needed a top up. Her look questioned him but she let it go as Martha continued talking.

What had happened was an impossibility. Years and years of training meant the barriers he'd constructed around his mind should only allow him to pick up thoughts after several had been sufficiently relaxed, but they should definitely not let any of his out. Especially with the TARDIS humming happily in the back of his mind, she was a mental foundation for him, nothing could affect his mind while the two of them were so much of one mind as they were right now, or had been for the last few weeks. He sent her a query and after finding no threat or any types of impending doom in their near future, she returned to enjoying the excitement that so many minds within her presented. She was positively giddy and the Doctor chuckled.

"You've been quiet boss." Mickey quipped as he leaned across the Doctor to shove biscuits in his mouth.

"Ah you know me Mickey, lost in my own little world sometimes."

"Oh yea, you can say that again." Mickey laughed then turned serious. "Do you reckon you could help me out Doctor? It's just well, I've been meaning to you know" he gestured towards Martha trying not to make it too obvious. "It's just I can't seem to find the right time to, well, you know...ask and I was wondering if you could..." The Doctor cut him off smiling. "I'll take care of it Mickey, no problem, you just be ready when the times right ok." The other man grinned and slapped the Doctor on the back. "Thanks Boss knew I could count on ya." Mickey turned back to talking with Jack and the Doctor rolled his eyes as Mickey grasped the box in his pocket like a life line.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The afternoon happily passed on into evening and the TARDIS altered her artificial light to accommodate the passing of Earth time. Martha, Donna and Rose had made themselves busy preparing something for the present company to enjoy for dinner since none of them seemed to want to leave. Rose sat back down at the table across from the Doctor. He looked up to see Rose staring at him with a small smile playing at her lips. He raised one eyebrow slightly as if to question what was wrong, she shook her head and he smiled back. She looked away as a slight blush crept gently up her neck. They were both momentarily distracted by the sound of Jack popping the cork of a rather large champagne bottle.

"You be careful with that Jack, it's not champagne you know." The Doctor warned as Jack poured and distributed the liquid as dinner was set out on the table.

"Oh I know Doc, just setting the mood." Jack winked knowingly at the Doctor over Martha's head, ah, so Mickey had asked for Jacks help too. "Well then, I best go move us somewhere spectacular then hmm?" He left the room and minutes later the roof of the TARDIS receded back and the stars of the Milky Way galaxy illuminated the area above their heads, it was so close Donna was sure she could reach out and touch it.

"It's beautiful." Martha sighed as the affirmative murmurs resounded around the table. It was at this point that after a nudge from the Doctor who stood behind him, Mickey turned to grab Martha's hand and kneeled down next to her. She turned and a tear slid down her cheek as silently he opened the small box and mouthed "I love you." All she could do was nod and envelop him in a hug as their friends clapped and cheered. Rose was the first to get up and hug Martha, "Bout time too." She laughed as Martha visibly relaxed at her acceptance. "Well done Micks, you made us all proud." She hugged Mickey. "Thanks Rose, you're the best." The others followed suit and Mickey rolled his eyes at Jack & Donnas innuendoes. "Oi Boss," Mickey shouted at the Time Lord, "he's rubbed off on Donna!" He laughed and sat down as they began their meal.

The night progressed and even the Doctor took the proffered champagne from Jack after a few rounds had already been passed. He watched Rose staring up at the expanse of sky as it twinkled above their heads. He relaxed his barriers once more and was pleased at the joy that exuded from his friends. Except for Rose. Despite her outward appearance she was troubled, she looked over at Mickey and Martha who only had eyes for each other and wondered if this was what Mickey had to endure with her and the himself before she was ripped away. They were different back then. She sighed, her eyes returning to the stars. _"Rose..."_

"Hmmm?" she murmured. Jack, Martha and Donna looked in her direction. Jack nudged her slightly. "Hey Rosie you ok?" Rose looked at Jack as if he'd grown a second head. "Yea he said Ro..." She stopped as she looked over and pointed to the empty seat the Doctor had occupied. Mickey giggled slightly tipsy. "Bit too much to drink eh Rose?" She didn't know what to think, maybe Mickey was right, she'd had too much. She was sure she heard him say her name but he wasn't there. She looked round the room and noticed him leaning in the shadows by the doorway wearing an expression she couldn't place. And then something occurred to her. The thought about the other Doctor and just now her name. Was it him? Somehow she was hearing a thought here and there from the Doctor. Oh she must be drunk, a cheap one but a drunk none the less, one drink and she was nearly positive the Doctor was in her head. She watched him move and sit down as Martha babbled happily to him.

Well then, she thought, only one way to find out. She concentrated as hard as she could on the Doctor as he spoke to Martha. "_Doctor..."_ He dropped his glass to the floor and winced, hands pressed deep to his temples as his name was shouted through his skull. He shook his head trying in vain to release the pressure. "Doc you alright?" Jack moved to his side grabbing his shoulder in concern. "Yes fine, fine just, bit of a headache, wine must have gone to my head." He wiped the remnants of his drink off his pants as Jack handed him another one and picked the pieces of glass off the floor. "Take it easy with this one ok." The Doctor looked up at him and rolled his eyes, "Oh Ha Ha." He sat back down glancing only briefly at Rose who still had her hand up over her mouth in shock. Oh he had known it was her the second it had happened, but she must have thrown everything into it to have shouted into his head like that. The tiniest whisper popped into his head mixed with confusion & horror. _"I'm sorry...I" _Her face belayed her shock. Such things were not permitted by some laws, definitely those of his home world and indeed some other thousand plus galaxies. Human minds were fragile and practically incapable of making a sustainable telepathic link, Jack had only been able due to the Doctor's own abilities supporting. But she had shouted through him, despite his barriers. _"It's ok, just try not to shout." _He whispered back to her as he started to discuss TARDIS repairs with Jack. She had been deep in conversation with Donna and she spilt her drink across the table this and her lap.He turned and winked, passed her a napkin and turned back to Jack's suspicious look. "So as I was saying..." The Doctor continued as though nothing had happened, Rose was staring at him open mouthed. _"Doctor?" _She felt him chuckle inside her head and she blushed. She considered this new revelation for a moment. _"But how come you're inside my head?" _she asked _"How do you know it's me? _He couldn't help himself; this was a strange incidence indeed._"I could be an effect of the drink hmmm, a hallucination, ever consider that?" _She hadn't before but now that her hallucination/the Doctor suggested it she picked up the bottle on the table and read the labels. She of course found nothing about mind altering substances or the like. She thought again as she glanced at the Doctor himself appearing to be completely absorbed in a re-enactment of some sort of customary alien hand shaking ritual with Jack. _"Maybe I'm going nuts." _She thought momentarily._ "No Rose you're not" _he laughed. _"It is me." _She continued watching him, his body language making no sign of anything other than being engrossed in his demonstration. She thought this a little unfair considering it was taking up nearly all of her concentration just to wrap her mind around the fact he was in her head and that he'd just spoken to her.

"_H-ow c-can you do tw-two things at once." _She managed, nearly bordering on mental exhaustion at trying to speak to him again and comprehending the situation. It probably required a lot less thought than she had given it but she was still a unsure why and how it was happening, she couldn't help the tiny butterflies that were starting to flutter in her belly at the thrill of being able to do whatever it was they were doing, at being that little bit closer to him.

"_Time Lord remember, and as for the how and why, I have no idea. It's really quite fascinating actually, you shouldn't be able to participate, yet here you are." _She considered this for a moment and frowned. _"W-hat part-ic-ip-ate mean." _She was struggling now to make full sentences and her head felt like it might explode, he knew she was getting weaker but he couldn't help feeling just a little proud she had held out as long as she had. _"I was skimming surface thoughts, and before you say it I wasn't prying, just making sure everyone was as content as they seemed. And besides every now and then, when I feel it's safe enough to break down a few barriers, it helps in some situations, mostly I do it because it feels good. Bit hard some days you know, missing what I do in this daft old head of mine." _

"_I...sorry Doc-." _She tried, oh how much he must hurt to not have them all there in his head with him. She remembered him once saying that if any more of his kind existed he'd feel them. He glanced at her over Jacks shoulder and nodded. _"I know. But you all help you know. You humans broadcast your emotions and thoughts so loud without even realising it, makes it just that little bit less lonely." _She couldn't bare it, seeing him laughing and joking on the outside while on the inside. How could he bare it, how much else does he hide away. Even while he can look as ecstatically happy as he did now but oh so sad. _"I don't hide everything.  
Not from you." _He didn't speak again after that as Donna began asking Rose about their travels while she was gone.

The gathering departed the kitchen and made their way to a door Rose hadn't been through since she first came on board the TARDIS. She'd found the Doctor in here once just lying in the grass looking up at a constellation unknown to her but oh so sad and familiar to him. Martha and Mickey found a soft patch of grass and sat down while Donna managed to trip over her own feel and pull both her and Jack into a nearby collection of shrubs before only managing to move a few feet more before collapsing again laughing onto the grass. The Doctor filed in closely behind Rose and laid out his long brown coat so they could share it.

"Mmmm apple grass." She murmured, smiling. He smiled but didn't turn to face her as he lay back locking his long slender fingers behind his head. She followed suit and stared up at the same sky they had enjoyed during dinner, she frowned. "Change it back." She whispered knowing that his superior hearing would pick up the request. She watched him for a second out of the corner of her eye as he contemplated what she was asking, he closed his eyes for a second and the sky above them changed. They both laid in silence, barely noticing the noises from the others as they admired the change of scenery, it significance only registering to Jack whose eyes darted over to the Doctor and Rose before returning his attention to Donna.

"Thanks." She whispered to him. _"You're welcome."_ She stilled slightly and smiled. "You're enjoying this aren't you."

"_Oh yes."_ She swatted him and he feigned hurt.

"So do you know how this is happening?" She whispered.

"No idea." He murmured. She closed her eyes as a gentle breeze picked up his scent and danced it across her face, she took a deep breath. _"God he smells so good." _She thought. He chuckled and was thankful the partial darkness hid the blush creeping up his neck. "Not fair."She mumbled and tried to hide her embarrassment by looking away from him. _"Sorry..." _He murmured gently into her mind. _"It won't happen again, once my barriers are back in place it won't work. No other thoughts in or out."_ She turned, propping her head up on one arm to face him and frowned. A slight wave of sadness and disappointment swept from her to him. He glanced over at her. "Trust me you don't want me hearing everything you think all the time Rose and it's not safe for me to keep my thoughts so open. There are things up here that should stay locked away, and for good reason."

"I know...but...I mean can you...can't you just...sometimes...with me." She took a chance and looked up to see another expression she couldn't read. He spoke so softly.

"Why would you want...?" He asked propping himself up on one elbow.

"Cause it's you." She spoke so quickly and quietly that no one but him would've been able to catch it. This was going to take him longer than he realised to consider. He knew she was attached to him, loved him even, she had said so herself all that time ago. But this was something else entirely. He hadn't realised how long he was silent for until she spoke again.

"It's okay you know, I understand it's hard for you, didn't even know it was possible til now, spent all my time without it, was a silly thing to ask, forget I said anything." She mumbled as she moved onto her back to stare at the expanse of stars. _He doesn't want it, I went too far, shouldn't have asked, stupid, stupid, stupid. _She sighed and turned her head slightly at the sound of his voice.

"No, no it's not that Rose don't think, please don't think that..." He dragged one hand down his face and began tugging his ear slightly. "Think what Doctor?" He huffed and gave her a pointed look. "Oh right, sorry." She looked away again, it was easy to forget he could pick up on what she was thinking. She just wished it worked for her like it did for him. Wished he'd let her in just that little bit more. Let her be a little bit more to him.

"You are Rose." He whispered. "It's just too dangerous for me and for you."

"But why..." She interjected.

"Because I'm not human Rose remember?" He knew he shouldn't be getting frustrated at her but he couldn't help it, of all people she should understand.

"Yea, TARDIS, two hearts, talkin' in my head kinda guessed that." She snapped and her eyes went wide, she quickly clasped her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry." She mumbled through her hand.

"You see what I mean Rose, it's not just a sharing of thoughts, it's emotion and sensation and that's why it's dangerous. That wasn't your feelings it was me, the stronger telepathic influence seeks out and dominates and Rose you don't get much stronger than me. My mind would crush you if you were exposed to it for too long. Even with TARDIS to help it would be too much." He sighed and flopped onto his back again pressing his palms into his eyes, wishing he had never let her know that he had been skimming their thoughts or spoken to her mind as he had. She didn't understand and she was hurt. He sat up then staring out at nothing in the field in front of them.

"I know you don't think I understand, but I do." She whispered as she sat up. "It's the same reason why we can't...why we're not...we're just..._too different." _She stood up, and tried to hide it as she wiped away a stray tear. She ran her fingers gently through his wild brown hair. "I know yea, and it's ok. Goodnight Doctor." He closed his eyes and hung his head as he felt her moving towards the door. "Goodnight Rose." He heard the rustling of fabric as she stopped and turned back to look at him from the door. She bid their other companions goodnight. _I love you Doctor._ Was the last thought he picked up on. And then she was gone.

One by one the remaining companions retreated to their respective sleeping quarters, the TARDIS having moved them conveniently to the corridor opposite the library, the Doctor's door likewise appeared as she moved the other rooms back into their positions throughout her interior. "Well what a day we've had eh old girl, now maybe we can get back to business? Travel and adventure?" The TARDIS hummed uncertainly into his mind, echoing his own, but he knew for an entirely different reason.

"What's got you frazzled now eh, surely you're feeling a damn sight better than before?" He frowned. The TARDIS brushed colours and images against his mind, his eyebrows shot up into is hairline a little startled by her admission but not entirely surprised he guessed, he should have known that eventually she would have needed something... After all even if he didn't feel any biological imperative in light of the Time War, the TARDIS was entirely different, she couldn't help herself...and she was sorry.

"So it's safe to assume that your little outburst wasn't entirely Jacks fault them?" He laughed and she blushed and apologised again. "It's quite alright, just don't let Jack know." She hummed affirmation. The Doctor stood up gathering his jacket from the ground and moved slowly to the door, he looked back at the field they were sitting in before closing the doors. He sighed as he moved across the corridor pushing another door open and disappearing inside. The lights came up only slightly and he moved to watch Rose asleep in the middle of his bed, her bed, oh he should probably sort that out soon he mused. He kicked his shoes off, removed his suit jacket and sat down in the arm chair next to her. He inclined his head back into the chair and closed his eyes for a few seconds.

He heard her shift and moan in her sleep. She was restless, he could tell from the state of the bed sheets, and noticed her forehead was glistening with a slight sheen of sweat. He debated whether or not to join her in sleep when she mumbled his name. He climbed in behind her and pulled her against his chest, she had a slight temperature but his cooler body would bring that down easily, he brush the few stray hairs that had pressed to the sweat of her forehead away and tucked them behind her ear.

She calmed almost instantly at his touch and he smiled sadly. He was made for her, he knew that. His regeneration linked the two of them, the vortex taken from her with a kiss; the most basic of genetic transfers, he had changed to accommodate her to fit her, even if he hadn't realised what he was doing when he took the power from her dying body. Besides it wasn't as if he had ever taken a mate before and known the implication of sharing a death. Oh but he should have known, should have paid attention all those years ago when it was drilled into them time after time. Not such an impressive brain after all.

His species rules about mingling with lesser ones wasn't purely as prejudicial as he'd once thought, it was to keep them safe. Not that he would change what he'd done; he'd do it again if he had to without question, just to keep her safe and with him. He was selfish, but he didn't care. She'd stay with him as long as she had breath in her frail human body and he'd stay with her, the two of them impossibly bound together, even though he knew that when she died, so would he, well this him anyway he would go on as always. Rose didn't need to know the ramifications of what he'd done all that time ago. He could barely fathom how he'd even broach the subject. Perhaps over breakfast or chips. _**Oh by the way Rose, when you absorbed time, I took it back, you killed me and now you're bound to me, my mate, but I can't even consider touching you the way I want to, need to, because you're human & mating with me would feel like the physical equivalent of burning alive and oh if that doesn't kill you the full telepathic contact involved in mating would result in my mind making your brain implode.**_Nope, definitely not. It was with this thought that he carefully locked his barriers into place and closed his eyes. _Too sleep per chance to dream_ he thought bitterly. He pressed a kiss to Rose's hair and let unconsciousness drown him.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A week later the six companions burst through the doors of the TARDIS panting. The Doctor kicked the doors shut, jumping over his friends still breathless on the gangway and danced his way round the console flicking and pulling switches and levers making their final escape. It was supposed to have been a quiet sightseeing trip to Fraxis VII in the year 7.2-Delta-9. He was positive any rebellious activity would have been over by then with the planet having made the transition into this century as a highly sort after tourist destination. Three days they'd all spent in captivity because of the colour of Mickey's trousers, in his own defence how was he supposed to know the colour of one's own trousers would insight such violence. He had managed to over-power one of the guards and frantically dashed about releasing them all from the several different containment cells which held them. He'd found Donna, Mickey and Martha huddled together in the North-East wing, Jack chained to a wall in the southern most quadrant, eagerly chatting up the captive insurgent in the cell opposite him and Rose he found curled up in the corner of her small cell in the medical wing. After assuring their exit a power surge all but crippled the installation with the sound of a thunderous explosion reaching their ears as they scrambled back to the TARDIS. Once safely in the vortex the Doctor relaxed and looked back over his friends. Jack was helping Donna up to follow Mickey and Martha into the depths of the ship. Rose hadn't moved since he last looked at her huddled next to a strut gently stroking it.

"Infirmary." The Doctor spoke to Jack who nodded. He moved towards Rose and held his hand out for her. She took it willingly and slumped heavily against his side. He wrapped his arm round her waist to support her and they followed the others to the med bay.

Jack saw to Martha and Mickey while The Doctor scanned the sonic over Donna who sat whining about smelling like the back end of a donkey. Rose was sat quietly on a chair in the corner again stroking the organics of the TARDIS exposed above the sterile lining of the infirmary. He frowned but Donna caught his attention as she fidgeted and moaned.

"Just a few more seconds Donna and you can go." He grumbled as the sonic beeped its completion. "Don't see why I need to be scanned anyway Space man, the only time they came anywhere near us was to change the bucket and throw us something to eat, which wasn't much, god I'm starving." Jack came over to the Doctor as Martha and Mickey walked out together.

"Same story with them Doc, they didn't say boo to them the entire time, just kept staring and taking notes. They're alright save for being a little hungry and exhausted." Jack showed the other two's results to the Doctor who nodded.

"You can go now Donna you're fine. The TARDIS has left you a little surprise in the kitchen too." He smiled, helping her down off the gurney.

"Told you." Donna quipped before dragging him into a hug. "Thanks." And with that she disappeared.

"How about you Jack?" He asked as he helped Rose up onto the gurney.

"Me? Oh I'm fine, just chained me to the wall other than that same as the other three. Had a killer of a headache by the second day." The Doctor glanced at him briefly as he turned to Rose who was absent-mindedly running her fingers over the material she now sat on.

"And how 'bout you Miss Tyler." He said gently as he lifted her chin with one hand. She smiled and yawned, her eyes were slightly dilated and their responses slow. He frowned but continued by laying her back on the gurney and pulling a scanner from the drawer beside him.

"You sure are quiet Rosie, definite bonus." Jack teased earning himself a gentle slap. Her head lolled back and forth between him and the Doctor, her eye lids getting heavier and heavier. The Doctor turned back to the two of them, a deep crease formed on his brow. His eyes flicked warily at Jacks.

"What's wrong Doc?" He asked and both their eyes flicked down at Rose.

"Rose." The Doctor called but she paid him no mind, sleep would be good, so tired. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her gently til she looked up at him. "Hello Doctor." She mumbled. "Rose what did they do to you?" He queried anxiously. She remained quiet. "Rose, tell me." He pushed harder this time. She moaned and began to ramble softly.

"With eyes so old and wise has he, the storm will fall but he won't see, what time has trapped inside of me," She whispered as an almost crazed grin spread over her features.

"What." The Doctor snapped eyeing her wearily. "Rose..."

"Through one to ten, it mustn't end, the eye is what I must defend." Her expression changed as she winced, her chest rising off the table under her.

"Rose what did they do, you need to tell me!" He yelled as her body snapping upright, her black eyes boring into his own. "What do you remember!"

"To take a mate on another's fate, not to rest before the golden gate, time will tell the maidens hell and she'll be his to take." With a scream of pain which shook the TARDIS she flopped limply forward into the Doctors arms.

The Doctor quickly pushed her back onto the bed and between himself, Jack and the TARDIS they ran every test and scan they could, from every planet they could think of. Hours passed and soon they heard the tell tale signs of the others beginning to stir.

"We've tried everything Doc, all we've come up with is nothing." Jack whispered mirroring the Doctor position with Rose's hand in his own. Her breathing was erratic and sweat poured from her limp body all the while like a mantra the same continuous murmuring spilled from her dry lips. _"To take a mate on another's fate, not to rest before the golden gate, time will tell the maidens hell and she'll be his to take."_

"There's one more thing I can try Jack, but not in here." He looked up at Jack, the last few days without rest showing on the Doctors face. His features were gaunt, his face paler than usual. Jack nodded as the Doctor scooped her up in his arms, Jack trailing slightly behind him holding up the solutions of fluid pumping nutrients into Rose's body. They made their way through the corridors gaining the attention of the other occupants in the TARDIS as they went. The Doctor stopped in front of a door and Jack pushed it open. He surmised that since she seemed to rest more while she was in his room, then maybe it was just what she needed, and considering what he had in mind as a last resort, it would definitely be best for it to be somewhere comfortable and familiar to her.

"What are you thinkin' Doc, talk to me." Jack hooked the fluid bags over the post above Rose's head and helped the Doctor pull the blankets over her body. Martha came in with a basin of hot water and a wash cloth, while Donna sifted through the pile of clean washing in the corner of the room trying to find something comfortable to change Rose into. Jack had to pull the Doctor out of the room while the two women went to work. He shut the door as Mickey joined them and the Doctor started pacing.

"What's wrong with her Doctor?" Mickey asked, looking between the exhausted expressions worn by both men.

"We don't know Mickey," Jack supplied as the Doctor continued mumbling to himself, pulling on his hair as he thought. The other two just stared.

"What am I missing?" He began. "Come on you two think!" He shouted before returning to his pacing.

"What was it she said Doc, to take a mate on another's fate...?"

"Not to rest before the golden gate, time will tell the maidens hell and she'll be his to take, yes, yes, yes I know but what else? Why this?" He slumped against the wall.

"But what is it?" Mickey pressed, "It has to mean something?"

"It means nothing," The Doctor snapped. "It's a story, just a stupid fairytale to scare small children."

"Doesn't sound like anything I ever heard as a child." Mickey snorted.

"Me either." Added Jack, still trying to think of anything else that would make sense.

"Of course you won't know it, nobody does anymore." The Doctor sighed. "But that's it isn't it. That's what we're missing. Whoever's done this to Rose must have or have access to a knowledge base that includes Time Lord History or legend at least. How else would they have known it? Pretty specific that tale, but it's just a story." He frowned and began pacing again.

"About what?" Jack asked scratching his head. "I don't even know anymore Jack; I don't remember it was so very long ago, so much has happened since."

"Then remember damn it! Before whatever this is kills her!" Mickey shouted at him and his head snapped in his direction. "What makes you think I'm not trying, that I wouldn't do everything within my power to help her!" He growled before turning away from the two men and stopping dead in his tracks.

"What Doc?" Jack shouted after the Doctor as he disappeared down the corridor, both himself and Mickey following closely behind. When they got to the console room the ship pitched violently, throwing them down onto the grating, the Doctor only barely staying upright. He didn't even bother with the hand break before running full pelt down the gangway and out the doors.


	6. Chapter 6

Many thanks for the love and reviews xxoo

Chapter 6

When Jack and Mickey emerged from the TARDIS they were standing in a white room. The Doctor pacing backwards and forwards in the middle shouting at the ceiling.

"Where are you! I know you can hear me." He continued pacing and the silence continued. "You owe me!" He screamed and after a few more minutes he stopped pacing and glared at the walls one at a time.

"Still as impatient as ever I see Doctor." The words echoed round the room, their source yet to be seen. Then suddenly a small man dressed in a white suit popped out of the wall to their right. The Doctor moved in on him the second he appeared and was in his face, the full fury of the oncoming storm barely held at bay.

"The Guardian's Future." He stated and the small man wrinkled his nose.

"What about it?" The man asked uninterested, noticing a piece of lint on his shoulder and brushing it off rather disgusted.

"Don't play games with me White." The Doctor growled and the other man laughed.

"There was once a time my dear Doctor that games were what we did best."

"Those days are long gone, now answer my question." He snapped back.

"Alright, alright don't get so testy it's not a good look for you." The other man rounded the Doctor, alternating between leaning and twirling his cane between his fingers. "So you want to know about the Guardian's future eh, well I guess it all began with the Other, just before he disappeared from record, well those records he actually appeared on anyways." He moved away from the Doctor and a table and chairs appeared with a teapot and selection of cakes and pastries. He gestured to Mickey and Jack as the Doctor sat down.

"Come join us gentleman, rest assured your friend's condition will not deteriorate here." Mickey was suspicious and so was Jack as they edged closer to the Doctor who nodded at the two chairs opposite him. "He's right, time has no meaning here. She'll be fine while we try to sort this out." The two sat down hesitantly.

"Lovely. Tea?" The small man clapped happily and sat down as the teapot floated gently into the air and filled each cup, while the milk and sugar did their respective dances to each man as required.

"You may call me White, as the Doctor does. So Jack and Mickey, who am I you may ask. It's perfectly fine to be wary of what you don't know but hopefully it will put you at ease. I am a guardian, the White Guardian to be precise. My brother, delightful chap really, is the Black Guardian. We represent both order and chaos in the universe; keep the balance if you will." He shushed the Doctor as he snorted into his tea cup.

"The Doctor and my brother and I go back and forwards quite a long way." He smiled delighted in his little trip down memory lane. The Doctor however was not so impressed and scowled at the man.

"Oh very well." White sighed. "The Guardian's Future was a children's story told to young Time Lords to ensure the continued existence of what I believe to be a pure bloodline. Obviously it's creation was prior to Pythia and her alleged cursing, but honestly the more logical reasoning behind Time Lord sterility would probably be Rassilon breeding it out with all his genetic manipulating and poking where he shouldn't have." He shrugged taking a small pink cake from the table, The Doctor's eyes snapped to White's. "Oh don't be naive Doctor, Pythia was just a woman, Rassilon panicked and outlawed natural breeding out of prejudice not necessity. How else would he ensure the purity of his master race? No matter what good he did Doctor, he was still a dictator. That's why the Other left. Legend has it he incorporated himself back into the matrix to be reborn at a time when he could do some good, restore what he had fought so hard to achieve only to have it torn away from him and corrupted." He chewed thoughtfully on his treat. "It's all pure speculation though, no one really knows. A whole part of your history lost Doctor, just...missing. Such a shame all had to be lost; your people would probably have been a lot more helpful under the circumstances than I could be." The Doctor looked away and fiddled with his tea cup.

"So back to it, now as I recall, and to be honest it has been nearly 12 centuries since I first heard it, _'With eyes so old and wise has he'_ – obviously a reference to The Other, he was rumoured to be ages old long before the miracle of regeneration, '_the storm will fall but he won't see,'_ - must be a reference to some sort of impending doom or some such nonsense, '_what time has trapped inside of me'_ – well we all know that's a reference to the part of the web of time that is genetically bound to all Time Lord DNA, '_through one to ten, it mustn't end,'_ quite possibly a reference to regenerative abilities, although I do believe a restriction of 13 not 10 were imposed am I correct Doctor?" The Doctor nodded and White continued.

"_The eye is what I must defend'_ – referring to the eye of harmony, source of all power for time travel, manipulation etc, but this last part I have to admit has me quite baffled, '_To take a mate on another's fate,'_ well I have no idea besides from someone taking advantage of a dying man to steal his mate not that I recall that being even possible, '_not to rest before the golden gate_,' that could possibly be a reference to the ancient times, the golden gate symbolises many things, life, death, time, too many to really narrow it down specifically. And the last section, '_time will tell the maidens hell and she'll be his to take'. _Well, perhaps some form of great journey or battle undertaken by a woman, perhaps Pythia but who knows; under the circumstance his to take would refer to your people's bonding rituals yes? I'm afraid that's all I can really offer on the subject gentleman."

White sipped his tea and popped another cake into his mouth savouring the taste loudly as the other three men thought.

"This is pointless, we're getting nowhere." Mickey snapped.

"He may have a point Doctor." Jack sighed.

"No no no! We're not giving up on this, we can't. There's a reason Rose is repeating it over and over." The Doctor stood slamming his fists down onto the table. White frowned as a cake slipped from its casing and he snatched it up greedily.

"Why not just ask her Doctor." White suggested admiring the top of his cane and picking his teeth, using its gleaming head as a mirror.

"Because she's unconscious and it's an invasion of her privacy." The Doctor challenged.

"Didn't stop you before." The Doctor glared at him and White sniffed as he stood and rounded his chair to lavish attention upon a small potted fern that had just appeared out of nowhere. He stood caressing the plant and applying some water from a spray bottle he produced from his pocket.

"That has nothing to do with this and you know it." The Doctors glare practically burning a while in the back of the other man's head.

"Indeed Doctor, and absolutely nothing to do with the fact your TARDIS is on he..." His sentence was cut short as the Doctor growled at him so close he could feel the anger washing off him. White patted him on the shoulder.

"There there old boy. It will happen in time. You will understand and all will be as it should. But until then." The Doctor, Jack and Mickey were back on the TARDIS in flight as White's voice echoed round the console room. "You're on your own."

The Doctor glared at the ceiling while Mickey and Jack exchanged confused looks.

"That was different." Mickey quipped and Jack nodded.

"Come on." The Doctor nodded at Jack. "Time to wake Rose up."

The three walked towards the Doctors room in silence, Martha and Donna had just exited the room and stood to one side letting the Doctor pass. Mickey wrapped his arm around Martha's shoulders and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Donna clung to Jack, turning Rose's clothes in her fists. She felt for the Doctor, more so now than before when they first met and he had lost Rose. Now it seemed worse. He had her but she knew it wasn't how either of them wanted it to be. It just wasn't fair; they'd both given up so much to be together.

"Good luck Doc, we'll be waiting for you both." Jack smiled as the Doctor disappeared behind the door.

The Doctor stood at the door watching Rose as she tossed and turned and mumbled in her restless sleep. He removed his coat, suit jacket and converse and sat down next to her on the bed. He hadn't been this close to her since the last time he'd shared this bed. He'd been surprised he actually slept longer than she did, waking to her messing with his hair with that cheeky grin on her face. He'd wished for more mornings like that. But seeing her now made his throat tighten and his stomach churn. He'd have to find out what they did to her, search her mind and hopefully bring her out with him.

He lifted the sheet she was under and got in pulling her against him so their faces where nearly touching, one arm around her the other gently sliding up the side of her face to her temples. He'd barely touched her mind when he found himself dragged in and standing hand in hand with her.

"Rose?" He looked down at the woman next to him. She turned and looked up at him, a small smile gracing her features.

"Hello." She whispered. "Bout time you got here." He frowned.

"I've been with you the whole time Rose?" And he had indeed never left her side since she collapsed.

"Yea, but you haven't been in here." She gestured to where they were now standing.

"I tried to reach you but the walls were so thick I couldn't get through em', tried to let you know I needed you. All I could do was put myself on repeat hopin' you'd figure it out."

He nodded and looked around. "I was actually hoping you could tell me." He whispered back. "Where are we?"

When the light came up sufficiently he noticed they were standing in a circular room much like the TARDIS console room with doors lining its perimeter. They stood facing one door in particular. There was an eerie red glow emanating from under it, while several chains with padlocks held it closed. He also noticed two other doors which were likewise chained but the glowing under those doors were different. One was gold, he didn't need to think too hard about what was contained behind it, and the other was silver. He quickly looked back at the door in front of them and squeezed her hand.

"What's behind that door Rose?" He asked gently and her smile fell a little.

"Fraxis VII" She whispered and stepped closer to him.

"Oh Rose what did they do to you?" He murmured and she pulled him towards the door with her, knowing she had him with her gave her the boost of courage she needed to move forward, and he felt her wrap him up in a wave of protection. He smiled. He allowed her to use his strength, it made her shiver slightly and her legs feel weak.

"Wow." She murmured. He chuckled softly as she pulled at the padlocks keeping the chains in place around the door. They melted away easily and she reached for the door knob.

"Here we go."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When he stepped through the door he found himself alone save for the small pink and yellow ball which huddled in the corner. Of course she wouldn't be standing with him; he had to see what had happened. She would have to relive it. He cringed at the sight of her all alone and his hearts broke as she cried his name over and over to herself. The scene in front of him rewound and he turned to see them bringing her limp body through the door on a gurney, wires and probes invading every part of her. Every vein they had access to was violated with needles and tubes. He had to stop himself being sick. He watched as over and over they pumped drugs and poisons through her system until her body would cease to function only to bring her back and begin again. This kind of technology was beyond its time and place, the kind of things his people had only just begun to dabble with, trying to find away to limit the amount of regenerations used up due to primitive means of death or stupidity. He watched as they injected a canister of golden particles, Huon particles, into her blood stream and she writhed and screamed through the pain. When it was over she would wrap her arms round herself rocking and always his name over and over, a life line to keep her sane, to not give up. Whatever they were after they weren't going to get it from her. If they wanted The Doctor, they would have to kill her first.

"Oh Rose." He whispered bending down next to the gurney; she looked up and smiled almost like she knew he was there. Funny what the mind could do. Her eyes snapped shut as another wave of pain tore through her body. Two of their kidnappers entered the room taking notes and muttering to each other. This was different though, all the others recollections of their time in the facility never once did they speak to any of them, not even to him. But in Rose's mind she heard everything, and that's when he noticed they weren't speaking, well not aloud anyways. But why, if they were after him and considering that they would have known he was a Time Lord as soon as he stepped through the scanners on the front doors, didn't they make an attempt to initiate contact with him telepathically. Unless it wasn't really him they were after. His eyes flicked back to Rose. But why would they want her. If it was purely a case of kidnap Rose then capture the Doctor then he could understand, but they'd had him already, why torture her if they were after him?

"Oh this doesn't make sense!" He growled at the two men circling them as they removed the wires from Rose and replaced them on another untouched part of her body, the swollen and seeping red welts making the Doctor dry reach. "Leave her alone!" It was irrational he knew to shout at a memory but he couldn't help himself. It was then that the room shimmered from existence and Rose stood centre stage as two men walked from out of the darkness behind her.

The men, who stood in front of him, were him. Oh, Rassilon, how stupid must he become in later regenerations. No wonder she was burning up, having two of his futures swanning around in her head. Two different branches of his future he realised, one he had met before, the other unknown, and still not ginger either. He sneered at the man on the left as the two placed either side of Rose who stood frozen staring into him.

"Doctor." The man on the left leered.

"Valeyard." He replied and then nodded to the man on Rose's right. "Doctor." Who nodded back.

"Well this is strange I must admit, not often I get to catch up with myself inside a companions head!" He glared at them both. The Valeyard waved him off and the other Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Oh please, we're you so don't get so high and mighty." The Other Doctor quipped not moving from Rose's side while the Valeyard began pacing in a slow circle around the other three.

"Why are you both here?" The Doctor questioned. "What have you done to Rose?"

"Pffft, as if we could do anything to her, even he can't touch her," He nodded towards the Valeyard who rolled his eyes. "Because of Nine she's apart of us all no matter what happens in our future or our past, but to save sounding like a broken record I'll get right to the point."

"Which is?" The Doctor snapped watching the Valeyard out of the corner of his eye as he rounded behind him again and moved to stand behind The Other Doctor and Rose.

"A warning." The Valeyard snarled from behind Rose's head as he lent in and smelt her hair and skin all the way down to her shoulder, making The Doctor clench his teeth, his hands fisting painfully at his sides.

"Would you mind awfully stopping that she's my..." The Other Doctor growled to the Valeyard only to cut himself off before he said too much and returned to his neutral tone. "You're only irritating yourself, you realise this don't you?" The Valeyard's smirk fell.

"What kind of warning?" The Doctor now focusing his attention on the version of himself not trying to piss him off.

"The two of us are here because of a choice. One that you will have to make very soon Doctor. In short, your decision will set one of us free, and condemn the other to death." He looked between his other self and the Valeyard frowning. "And before you say it, yes logically he is the one that should be condemned for whatever atrocities he might commit in the future or the past, but you'll understand when the time comes. It'll be the hardest choice you'll ever have to make. We'll the first of two, but that won't come til later, if it comes at all." The other Doctor frowned.

"So why here, why choose to hide away in Rose's mind?" The Doctor asked confused. "Why not just leave a message with the TARDIS? Why bring her into it and risk her mind with all three of us in here now?"

"Oh don't look at us, we didn't do it." The Valeyard spat plopping down onto the floor, crossing his legs and continuing to look bored. "It's all her fault, or rather yours for letting her into your stupid head."

"I beg your pardon?" The Doctor snapped.

"You, you stupid know it all. You're the one who exposed her to our mind." He looked to the Other Doctor who continued.

"After you let her in, or rather after you booted her out, you forgot that she's Rose. Never does what she's told. She left herself so wide open waiting for you to reach out your mind to her again that she's been attracting attention. The result of which you've already witnessed."

"They wanted a Time Lord mind to study and dissect, but nothing can penetrate the barriers around yours. So they went for the next best thing." The Other Doctor paused eyes boring into the Doctors. "A mind touched by one. So far as we can tell she was broadcasting, unknown to her of course, the link in her mind searching for you."

"And that's how we got here." The Valeyard stated brushing dirt from his trousers as he stood. "Myself and the Other Doctor, our minds, the same mind, weakened by the split into the two of us, she latched onto it and pulled us in."

"But that would take an enormous amount of psychic energy to achieve." The Doctor spat at his counterparts. "She doesn't have that, she's only human."

"Indeed." Agreed The Other Doctor. "But they injected her with Huon particles, combined with her link to the vortex from the Game Station as well as her bond with you and then magnified through the TARDIS herself." The Doctor let out a rush of air.

"Oh dear." He whispered.

"Oh yes." The Other Doctor smirked. "But it's much bigger than that. Turned out they wanted a female in particular so she sent us back to herself. Didn't realise it at the time, or even now I dare say. We've been protecting her from them. Even managed to short circuit a few of their most sensitive and incredibly expensive pieces of equipment."

"Well they shouldn't have been poking around where they were." Snapped the Valeyard while the Other Doctor smirked.

"Why do you even care?" The Doctor asked eyeing the Valeyard suspiciously.

"Because, despite being a complete ass and trying to kill us," The Other Doctor murmured looking at Rose. "He still loves her." The Valeyard glared at him. "Shut up." He mumbled. "She wouldn't have liked what they were doing to her."

"What did they do to her?" The Valeyard eyed him up and down before continuing while he paced around him.

"They tried to extract secrets from her memories of the vortex, all of time and space, all the secrets of the universe conveniently packaged inside a fragile human mind. Then when that didn't work they tried to take all knowledge of you, of us. Hoped that if they wiped you from her mind she wouldn't try to escape and find you and they could continue to pick away at her mind." The Valeyard cringed in disgust.

"They tried to poke needles through her flesh and into her womb, violating the most sacred right of who she is, trying to take away her future before it had even begun. But we stopped them."

"That's enough." Whispered The Other Doctor. The Valeyard turned and took his place next to Rose, while the Doctor processed what he had learned so far. Then something occurred to him and he looked up at the Other Doctor.

"Who are you exactly?" He questioned stepping closer to the other man. "You're me that's easy enough to see, but who are you? If he's the Valeyard and you mentioned Rose pulled you in as you split then who are you?" The Other Doctor smiled and looked down to admire his shoes.

"Oh you know...the stuff of legends." He muttered.

"This is no time to be cryptic." The Doctor warned and the other one rolled his eyes again in a similar fashion to his Rose's said something ridiculous face.

"Oh but surely by now you have some idea Doctor." He nodded towards the Valeyard. "He even said my name when we first met."

The Doctor mentally backtracked rewinding the conversation until he came across one sentence in particular:

"_And that's how we got here." _

"_Myself and the _**Other **Doctor_..."_

"No." The Doctor eyed him warily. "You're a myth." He whispered.

"As are you Doctor."

"But you were lost, you disappeared." The Doctor was near speechless.

"Did I? Oops." He grinned and leaned in closer becoming serious. "Maybe I had more important things to take care of." He took a meaningful glance at Rose, as did The Doctor who swallowed and frowned.

"She will wake up now Doctor, no need for her to relive any more of those memories; we've taken care of her, now it's your turn." He returned to his place next to Rose and the Valeyard.

"What do I do?" The Doctor asked stuffing his hands into his pockets and fidgeting.

"Make the right choice." Their voices echoed round his head as he opened his eyes to see a Rose now sleeping peacefully in his arms.


	8. Chapter 8

Authors Note:

Rest assured my precious reviewers that all will be revealed in time. And thank you also. This is more of a filler chapter but I hope you enjoy it anyways. Work left me little time this week for writing. Xxoo.

Chapter 8

When Rose awoke the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. She didn't really expect him to be lying there next to her, but she had been nearly positive he had been with her the night before. She noticed the rumpling of the sheets in front of her and smiled as she tentatively brushed her face against the opposing pillow. She'd know his smell anywhere. She could smell it stronger now than before when she thought about it, all throughout the room and on the clean pyjamas she was now wearing; it sent a rush of warmth through her chest. Her mind flashed back to being vaguely aware of Martha and Donna fussing over her. She must have got hurt. After a quick mental inventory of appendages she lifted the sheet that covered her and checked for bruising or whatever else she might have found. She found nothing save two small bruise on the inside of her upper arms that might have been thumb prints. She shuffled to the edge of the bed and sat up swaying slightly as her body adjusted to being upright. Her mind flashed back again to the last few days. Yes she had been tortured, she remembered that much, but it was almost like she'd watched it happening to someone else. She knew of the terrible things they had tried to do but somehow she was spared the worst of it. She was grateful her memories were the way they appeared or else she might not have managed to remove herself from bed for several days. She made a mental note to thank the  
Doctor for any alien jiggery pokery he might have subjected her mind to because it was working wonderfully.

She stretched her sore muscles out as she searched round the room for her favourite jeans which she found neatly folded on the bedside table next to a steaming hot cup of tea. The Doctor's voice floated through her head rambling on about free radicals and tannins. She took a sip and moaned appreciatively to herself as the warm liquid soothed the dry ache in her throat. She picked up a dark blue singlet from the floor, stripped out of her pyjamas, and pulled it on along with her jeans without getting up. She sat sipping her tea as a gentle tapping came from the direction of the door. She looked up to see the Doctor sticking his head round the top of the door grinning at her. She grinned back and giggled as he remained at the door.

"So are you gonna come in or what?" She asked, tongue catching between her teeth as she watched him silently shut the door and tip toe around the clothes strewn out over the floor only to flop unceremoniously onto the end of the bed.

"Feeling better?" She nodded and he grinned snatching the mug from her lap and draining its remaining contents in one gulp. Her eyes closed involuntarily as his movements swept his scent in her direction. She wondered absent-mindedly if he had always smelt this good? And why she had never noticed it this much before. She sniffed the air again. Perhaps it was the TARDIS?

"S'different in here now can you smell it." She asked him looking around the room again, only to realise that this was the first time she'd really looked and appreciated it. All dark wood and deep red fabrics.

"Smells the same to me." He shrugged as he leaned back, casually sprawling out then turning to lean on his elbow and watch her. She slapped him playfully on the arm as he raised his eyebrow at her.

"I'm serious," she laughed sniffing again. "It smells like spice, and TARDIS grease," she closed her eyes, "like a thunderstorm mixed with honey and..." He rolled his eyes as her attention snapped to him.

"Well of course my room would smell like me Rose, what did you expect?" His smirk only increased in size as her mouth dropped open.

"Why didn't you say anything before? I mean here I've been all this time hogging your bed." She exclaimed blushing slightly. It was his turn to laugh now.

"Well, I don't really use it much, don't sleep remember me. Besides," he shrugged again playing with the bottoms of her tattered jeans, "you seemed to like it in here, seemed to rest easier, so I didn't bother." She smiled shyly at him before glancing round and frowning.

"God and look at the state of it," She stood up then snatching clothes from the floor and dumping them into the laundry chute. The Doctor rolled onto his back laughing uncontrollably as she blushed stuffing more clothes into the cupboards and under the bed. "Stop it," she groaned. "S'not funny Doctor." She bent down to pick up a hairbrush, almost passing out as she doubled over in pain. The Doctor's laughter ceased and he was at her side in an instant, she swayed slightly as he helped her to the bed.

"You need to take it easy Rose." He chastised, sonic screwdriver in hand as he scanned across her belly. She brushed his hand away gently.

"M'fine, really." She smiled at him and he stood abruptly pacing around in front of her, fingers messing his already dishevelled brown hair.

"No Rose, you really aren't and that's the problem." He stopped and glared at her slightly so she knew he was serious.

"So go on then," she encouraged softly as he slumped against the wall across from her, arms resting across his bent knees, fingers fiddling idly with sonic as he composed himself.

He had, after ensuring she was asleep, spent the majority of the last 12 hours in the library searching volume after volume of ancient text, looking quite unsuccessfully for any further information regarding the one known as the Other. It was only when he had flopped into a leather arm chair towards the back of the room that he caught sight of a small black box as it drew itself out of the shelving and dropped soundlessly to the floor. He raised an eyebrow at the ceiling but the TARDIS merely continued singing gently to Rose as she slept.

He appeared to be lost in thought. "Is this bout' you bein' in my head." She mumbled suddenly finding her finger nails very interesting.

"Hmm?" He frowned looking up at her, her comment had distracted him slightly. "Your head? Oh, no, no, no weeeellll, why would you think that?" He scratched his head and she smiled at his confusion. "How did you know I'd..."

She tapped her temple. "Because I remember what happened to me, and yea it seems bad and all, but I don't really remember it, like I was just watching you know, jus' assumed it must have been one of your little mind tricks." He scoffed.

"Mind tricks please Rose you have no idea..." He whispered more to himself than her.

"Yea I do." She cut him off eyes glassing over slightly, like she was looking inside herself. "So much...so much of you." She shivered. _So much power _she thought _so alive and bigger than she could possibly imagine_.

"Yes, well...alien remember. I keep telling you this." He muttered slipping the sonic into his breast pocket. "Yea I know." She snapped and he caught the bitter edge to her words.

"What was that fo..." He queried features contorting into confusion once more.

"Nuthin'." She replied a little too quickly.

"I'm sorry okay, just tired yea." She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. "So what were you doing all night then?" She began before something else occurred to her and she changed the subject again. "What about the others, they're alright aren't they?" He could feel panic radiating off her.

"They're all perfectly fine Rose," he smiled, standing and reaching for her, "come on then, I'm sure they're keen to see you up and about." He gave her hand a squeeze as she entwined her fingers through his own.

"But weren't you gonna tell me something?" She frowned up at him as they reached the door.

"It can wait a few more hours." He grinned pulling her out the door and along the hallway to the kitchen, the smell of breakfast assaulting her senses. She had to steady herself against the Doctor as his scent swept over her again as she drank in the smell from up the hall. He frowned at her and she sniffed the air again. It was strange she thought to somehow have such a heightened sense of smell, perhaps it was a side effect of torture. The Doctor would probably know but she had to admit she was a little too embarrassed to mention the fact that the smell of him was making her feel light headed and just the teeny-tiniest bit, well...aroused. And then there was the other smells and sounds emanating from the kitchen. The Doctor had to wrap an arm round her waist to keep her upright.

"Rose?" He was closer now and it hit her once more.

"Rose!" He shook her then and her eyes snapped up to meet his.

"Sorry." She grinned blushing, "Kind of spaced out for a second. Come on." She dragged him albeit reluctantly into the kitchen.

Jack was the first to launch out of his chair and collect her up in an embrace. She giggled as he twirled her round and dropped a sloppy kiss to her forehead.

"Good to see you Rosie." Jack grinned. Donna all but barged Jack out of the way, grabbing Rose securely by the forearms. "Never, ever scare us like that again." She chastised but her grin gave her away.

She hugged her and relinquished Rose to Martha and finally Mickey who handed her a cup and smiled as he sat down next to his fiancé. She squeaked a surprise as Jack scooped her up, careful not to spill her tea, and placed her at the table between himself and where the Doctor now sat eyeing Mickey warily as the other man stared at his food. He raised his fork in silent defence of his prize and Mickey began shovelling the food from his own plate into his mouth before grinning.

"It was worth a try Boss." He spoke around his mouthful. Rose was so close to the Doctor now wedged between him and Jack and her head spun once more and she braced herself against the table. She could vaguely hear the sound of her own name but was caught up in a dizzy frenzy her stupid brain had conjured at the smell of him. Really what was wrong with her? She suddenly snapped to attention and the Doctor slowly moved his hand away from the side of her head.

"Better?" He whispered and she nodded then looked up at him again.

"You..." She whispered scrunching her face up in confusion. "Yes." He cut her off softly and resumed eating his breakfast.

"You'd better eat that before Mr Mickey here gets his paws on it." He spoke louder followed by an indignant splutter from Mickey.

"So where to next?" The Doctor asked reaching across the table for the teapot.

"Oh I know." Jack began. "No." Was the unanimous response echoed around the table.

"Somewhere beautiful." Rose suggested

"Somewhere quiet." Martha added to Mickey's request for something fun.

"Somewhere I can..." Jack began to add but was silenced by the Doctor's glare. He merely grinned at his friend.

"A man can only go for so long Doc." He laughed and winked as Rose elbowed him in the side and he laughed harder.

"Something I should know about Harkness?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows at the two of them.

"No." Rose groaned. "Definitely not." She whispered elbowing Jack harder.

"Sure." The Doctor's tone was indulgent. He would find out what they were hiding.

"Well come on then, let's get going!" He encouraged pulling Rose out after him. "I know the perfect place."

"Should we be worried?" Donna shouted from the back of the group as they emerged from the corridor into the console room.

"Oi that'll be enough out of you." The Doctor quipped beginning his dance around the console. The TARDIS shuddered and Rose slipped around the far side of the console to release the hand break. The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. She just grinned and took hold of the railing next to Martha.

"HOLD ON!" He bellowed, wielding the mallet and smashing the console with a flourish. The TARDIS groaned and lurched as the Doctor spun and laughed, sending his companions sprawling across the grating.

"Oh I missed this." Martha griped sarcastically pulling herself to her feet.

"Oh yea." Jack agreed and shook his head as Rose lay on the floor still laughing her head off just like the Doctor was as he pulled his brown coat on. He dropped his hand to his side as he passed her and she grabbed it, pulling herself up. Jack smiled to himself as he made his way to the doors. They were made for each other, both insane.

The Doctor flung the TARDIS doors open wide and all five companions filed out onto a small platform. A very small platform Mickey noted as Donna bumped into him, pushing him into the back of Jack who turned and smirked at him.

"Mickey, I had no idea." He grinned and waggled his eyebrows. Martha snorted into his shoulder. "Dream on Captain Cheesecake." He muttered shifting uncomfortably closer to Martha who tripped into Rose who was thankfully caught by the Doctors arm as he held them both back from the edge of the platform.

"At least we'll remember where we parked." Rose joked earning herself a glare from the Time Lord as he surveyed the two hundred foot drop from the tree they were currently parked on top of.

"Could've been worse." Mickey mused.

"How?" Donna remarked and the group erupted into snorts and giggles.

"So how do we get down?" Rose asked gripping the Doctor's sleeve lightly.

"Well we could jump, I mean I'll probably survive the fall, don't know about some of you." He remarked sarcastically. "Or we could just use the bridge."

"What bridge?" Jack mumbled as Mickey kneed him accidently in the back of the leg.

"That one." The Doctor pointed over their heads to behind the right side of the TARDIS.

Donna moved first followed by Mickey, Martha, Jack and Rose who waited for the Doctor to close the TARDIS doors before they moved across the wooden bridge suspended between the trees lower down.

"This is incredible." Jack remarked looking down below them. The forest itself was swarming with brightly coloured bird life and giant moths set brilliantly against the deep greens of the trees.

"Oh my gods look Rose." Mickey pointed and Rose ducked to see what he had been so excited about. The sight took her breath away.

"Doctor it's a...a." She couldn't speak she was so astounded. "I thought they were just a fairy tale?"

"What like aliens you mean?" The Doctor smiled. "Of course unicorns are real Rose, what did you think humans came up with these things all on their own?"

"Thought you said it was a crime to abuse your privilege as a time traveller?" Jack nudged him smirking.

"Well, maybe a little." The Doctor shrugged and slipping his hands in his pockets, rolling on the balls of his feet. "But who's gonna know." He grinned.

"Where and when are we anyways?" Donna asked as they moved onto the next platform and along another bridge.

"Well it's round about the year twelve million and forty-six and we're actually not that far from Earth." He began. "We're on a small moon called Arcacia in the Orion Nebula, which as you can see," he nodded towards the mass of rings beginning to appear in the sky behind them, "orbits Pythia."

"Pythia?" Jack frowned and turned to look at The Doctor. "Why does that seem familiar?"

"Well, stories depict Pythia as an oracle, the Delphic oracle to be exact, rumoured to have prophesised for the likes of the Greek god Apollo. Legend also says she was an incredibly powerful psychic who cursed those who opposed her to sterility for all eternity, before going mad and throwing herself into darkness."

"Was she for real, or one of those ones who, you know, sniffed glue vapours or something?" Donna asked. "Like in Pompeii?"

"Indeed, her powers were said to be linked to the vapours of the spring waters that ran under the temple but years of research and digging found no evidence of any chasms underneath the ruins on Mount Parnassus."

"Wait," Rose frowned. "not that I know much about ancient Greek mythology or anythin', but I remember reading bout' it in school, you said she cursed those who opposed her to sterility for all eternity, never mentioned anythin' bout that anywhere?" His eyes slid from the planet to Rose.

"What makes you think I was talking about Earth?" He drifted past her, a dark expression gracing his features.

"Oh." She started before turning to catch up to him, lacing her fingers with his.

"Did he just talk about you know, his...?" Mickey asked. "Yea." Martha nodded staring sadly at his back. "He was talking about Gallifrey."

"Come on kiddies," Jack pushed from behind, urging them to catch up. "Don't want to risk losing the designated driver."

"Yea." Mickey laughed half-heartedly.

They took their time admiring the scenery and making idle chatter about the planet or previous adventures, always keeping The Doctor and Rose within eyeshot. They day wore on and soon they began to tire, Mickey was also complaining they should have been warned about needing a packed lunch. When they caught up with Rose, The Doctor was engaged in an elaborate discussion, clicking and making various other indistinguishable vocal sounds with an excited native who shook his hand and descended down the tree via a small vine. The Doctor turned back to his companions with a broad grin.

"Turns out we've been here before." He exclaimed happily moving towards the edge of the platform they were on. "They've been waiting for us."

"Wait, what?" Donna frowned.

"Time isn't linear Donna, pays to remember that with him." Rose laughed.

"He doesn't expect us to swing down from here like Tarzan just did, does he?" Questioned Martha warily.

"Don't be ridiculous Martha Jones," The Doctor grinned from round the tree in front of them, his superior hearing catching her comment. "We're taking the stairs." Then he disappeared from sight.

"Doctor?" Rose called walking to where the Time Lord had been standing. She stood staring at the blank space before her when a familiar hand appeared out of nowhere and pulled her in with a squeal.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Donna groaned.

Jack sauntered over to the tree pulling an unwilling Donna behind him; he turned back to Martha and Mickey and grinned.

"When in Rome?" He shrugged and stepped off the platform dragging a screaming Donna with him. Martha and Mickey sighed, entwining their fingers and closed their eyes as they followed.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Donna." Jack tried; Mickey and Martha both had to cover their ears, her high pitch squeals echoing off the metallic walls of the entry hall they now stood in.

"Donna." He shouted at her again receiving no response. The Doctor stormed back up the hall to them and slapped Donna across the face. She ceased immediately and stood glaring at him. "Feel better now?" He smirked and turned on his heels and disappeared down another corridor.

"What the bloody hell..." She shifted from outrage as she looked around; the hall had high domed glass ceilings above shiny metallic panelling. It appeared as if the trees had merged with the metal work in an effort to coexist with each other. It was beautiful and reminded her of the console room coral. She heard the voice of the reason she had been wailing like a banshee, and turned on him. She had been waiting for impact as Jack dragged her off the platform. She drew her fist back and deposited it up one of his nostrils. "Ouch!" Jack frowned holding his now bleeding nose. "What the hell was that for?" He glared at Donna.

"You could have warned me!" She growled back and moved to stand behind Rose, still eyeballing Jack angrily.

Rose laughed, some day's it was like have a pair of children on the TARDIS, today was no different. "Come on you lot, The Doctor's waiting for us." She said gently nodding in the direction he disappeared. They followed her slowly down the hall.

"So what's all this then?" Mickey directed his question vaguely towards Jack.

"Perception filters would explain why we didn't notice all this to begin with I suppose. Must be advanced to manage it on such an enormous scale though, I mean did you see the map on the wall back there? This place is huge." He gestured to the ceiling which displayed a darkening night sky and sighed happily.

"Right you are Jack." The Doctor agreed from behind them, strolling along hands in pockets. Rose smirked at his reappearance while the others took a double take. He grinned and continued admiring the architectural workmanship as he began in lecture mode.

"Not a bad piece of technology this place. Very advanced like you said Jack but it's much, much more than that." He stopped talking and waggling his eyebrows excitedly encouraging one of them to take a guess at what his brilliant mind had already figured out. They frowned back at him earning them an exaggerated eye roll. "It's alive!" He exclaimed clapping and laughing.

"What like the TARDIS?" Martha asked reaching out and touching the metal panelling.

"Well not quite that advanced," He sniffed as he sidled up next to Rose. "But pretty close. Except for one thing!" He grinned down at Rose. "Can you guess what?" He looked across to Jack, then Donna, he frowned when he got to the confused stares from Martha and Mickey. "Oh come on!" He frowned, surely it wasn't that hard.

"Umm?" He looked hopefully back at the sound of Rose's voice; he smiled as she scrunched her face up as she thought.

"Oh, oh, oh I know." She grinned back at him jumping excitedly on the spot, catching her tongue between her teeth. "No infinite dimensions!"

"Give the woman a medal!" The Doctor cheered lifting her into a huge hug.

"Oh, yea." Jack nodded and grinned.

"What the hell..." Donna snapped. "Are you on about?" Jack laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Bigger on the inside?" Jack whispered to her waggling his eyebrows. He laughed harder as recognition spread from her face to Mickey and Martha's.

"Right." Martha smiled. "I get it now." Mickey grinned at her, kissing her forehead.

The moment was interrupted when 'Tarzan' as Martha had dubbed him prior to leaping out of the tree, began clicking and mumbling in the Doctor's direction, begging them follow him through the ornate carved doors he had just appeared from.

"Right, yes." He nodded at him. "Apparently they're ready for us now." He grinned offering his arm to Rose.

"Who's ready?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"No idea." He replied almost giddy with anticipation. "Alonz-y."

The door they entered led them from the building and out into an expansive canopy of magnificent ancient white oaks, their girth so immense that each trunk had sealed against the one next to it, like a vast and wondrous living cathedral. Over their heads the old trees entwined their branches, as if they were reaching out to embrace each other. In the centre of the ceiling the branches circled to an opening, through which an expanse of starry sky could be seen. Below, bathed in the soft light from the planet above, stood a woman set in brilliant white marble, a crown of delicate red stones adorned her head while her robes and hair appeared to swirl around her and there clasped in her open palms sat an ethereal glass orb which refracted the light from above, casting it across the soft white walls like a maelstrom of galaxies. Around her, as if offering protection, stood four slightly smaller figures set in a stone as black as night. They faced away from her. One to the north, one to the south, and one to the east as its brother faced the west. They were tall and slender but appeared strong, bearing intricately embossed armour, their gloved bound hands covering across their eyes as if they were forbidden to see or to act. The small pool at the base of the statues sent ever more reflections against the great oaks. No one said a word, too afraid to break the silence should the sound crumble them to the ground. The Doctor's eyes drifted from wall to wall naming the thousands of star systems in his head as they appeared, some still in existence, others lost and destroyed, some yet to be born.

Two slender figures shimmered into existence upon the pool, stepping off as The Doctor and his companions approached the centre of the room. Rose could feel him trembling slightly and squeezed his hand gently, he changed the position of his hand to entwine their fingers, squeezing back but not looking away from the man and woman in front of them. The woman was beautiful, Rose thought, in her white flowing robes with fire red curls that swept gently down her back. And the man with her, also quite beautiful, dressed in robes as she was but his hair as black as obsidian with pale features and a set of startling green eyes which appeared to be regarding her with amusement. She frowned and looked up at the Doctor who met her eyes and seeing her query merely shrugged and looked back to the two.

"Welcome friends." Greeted the two in unison, their voices projecting into their minds rather than aloud.

"Their lips didn't move." Donna mutter to Jack, painfully grasping his arm through his coat.

The woman turned and smiled kindly at Donna. "We speak to your minds in hopes of ensuring an understanding, but we can see that translation isn't of great concern."

"No," The Doctor spoke. "Our ship takes care of that. I'm The Doctor by the way; this is Rose, Jack, Donna, Martha and Mickey." He gestured to his companions as they stood lined in front of the pool.

"Always a pleasure Doctor, Rose," The man nodded, "And pleased to make your acquaintances Jack, Donna, Mickey and Martha." He stepped forward and gently took their hands in turn and placed them on his forehead as he addressed them. The Doctor eyed the woman in white curiously as she approached him and Rose, also pressing their hands to her forehead. Rose smiled as a tickling sensation danced from her hand and down her arm to flutter gently in her chest.

"Yes, it was mentioned we'd visited once before." He grinned. "Although I do hope not under any unpleasant circumstances."

"You know as well as I do Doctor that we cannot detail any such information to you, especially since you are yet to experience it within your current timeline." The woman smirked slightly and he couldn't help but wonder why it seemed so very familiar to him. Why they both did.

"Indeed," He conceded. "But will you allow us the pleasure of a name dear lady and you good sir?" He looked over at the other man and grinned.

"Of course Doctor," he smiled back. "My name is Erurainon and this is my lovely mela, Ithilwen." He smiled taking her hand and brushing a kiss across her fingers.

Rose tugged on the Doctors jacket and he lent down as she whispered to him. "What does 'mela' mean Doctor?" He smiled, looking from them back to her and leaned closer. "She's his wife Rose." His lips were so close to her ear and she shivered. He straightened and smirked as she looked down to hide her blush before returning her attention to the two. "Oh." She breathed. The two of them obviously only had eyes for each other, the way they looked at each other with such love she now realised, had them all captivated. She wondered sadly if she would ever experience such a thing. Ithilwen turned away from her husband and stared at Rose sadly for a moment before the sound of Erurainon's voice refocused her attention.

"Please enjoy your stay; the Arcacian's have prepared a celebration in honour of your arrival." He smiled gesturing to the gates at the northern end of the room which opened at his words. "There is food a plenty and soft pillows to rest your heads. Go in peace now and we wish you luck and await a time when we will meet again." They bowed to the company of companions and to the Doctor, before Erurainon took Ithilwen's hand once more and they disappeared in a swirl of golden light. As they made their way quietly to the gates Rose wondered whether she should question the slightly terrified expression the Doctor now wore. He knew she was watching him but dropped any pretence of hiding it away as the words spoken to his mind in the split second their new friends left replayed over and over in his head.

"_What once was lost will soon be found, you'll walk upon its holy ground, The matrix locked within her heart, the bond of souls will cause the start, your destiny secured our fate a billion years we're cursed to wait, but time has come do not delay her soul is bound to Gallifrey."_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The Doctor sat staring into the glowing red flames that danced with the wind as it pushed and pulled it in an almost intimate display of cause and effect. Like time it was unpredictable and burnt if you got too close. He smiled as he spotted Jack and Donna laughing at each other as they attempted to join in with the intricate steps of a traditional celebratory dance the natives were trying to teach them. He chuckled when Donna landed in a heap and blamed Jack who indulged her to save her from embarrassment. Like she needed any help in that regard anyways. Mickey was happily stuffing his face and Martha who sat beside him holding yet another plate of food at his request, was quite possibly slightly inebriate, unable to handle the local's version of alcohol, he laughed in earnest as she slipped backwards off the log she was sitting on sending Mickey's plate flying over her head and into a nearby bush. His eyes glanced back to Jack whose attention had shifted from Donna to a rather attractive young woman with yellow skin and quite an exceptional set of plumage. He briefly wondered whether he should inform him she was really a he, but knowing Jack that wouldn't stop him. He frowned and looked around noticing absolutely no sign of Rose; he searched the vast array of faces around the fire with them for her once more. Quite distracted by his search for her as he was, he jumped as a small blonde blur dropped into his lap.

"For the love of..." He huffed frowning at her while still grasping his chest. She laughed as she slid off his lap and deposited herself next to him. "Very funny Missy, you almost gave me a hearts attack you know."

"Yea." She giggled looking up at him obviously not sorry. "Silly old man." She grinned.

"Oi cheeky." He nudged her playfully with his shoulder, watching her as she sighed and rested her head against his arm. He knew she liked it when they could be like this, quiet, safe and together with no threat of impending doom, in all honesty so did he. It was moments like these that he treasured most. They sat together in a comfortable silence just watching the world around them.

"Alright?" He smiled down at her. She smiled back. "Always." She looked away and nodded towards Mickey and Martha.

"They're good for each other, I'm glad he finally found someone who loved him back." She smiled and the Doctor followed her gaze and smiled too, watching as Martha and Mickey stumbled off together towards their beds, which was something the Doctor found quite unique since despite the fact the Arcacian's had such spectacular technology, they still chose to sleep outdoors in quite small but cosy dwellings that resembled tee pee's rather than the in the complex behind them.

"Will they be happy together Doctor?" She asked quietly.

"How am I supposed to know?" He replied dragging his leg up so he could rest his arm across his knee. He glanced at her noticing the pointed look she was giving him. He frowned.

"I'm not a fortune teller Rose."

"But, can't you just check?" She sighed returned her head to his arm and her gaze to the direction they disappeared in. "I just want them to be happy." There was silence.

"You looked." She stated softly. "Did not." He denied but stayed silent. He didn't really have to look that hard, he saw it all the time, what was, what is, what can't, what mustn't. Rose knew it as well as he did.

"So?" She pushed wrapping her arm through his elbow and snuggling up against his side. She was so close now she might as well been on his lap. He smiled. "So what?" This earned him a slap on the leg which caused him to erupt into laughter. She sat up then trying to glare him unsuccessfully into submission which caused him to laugh harder. She huffed and placed her head on his shoulder, closer to him now, so close he could smell her shampoo. He turned his head and whispered softly to her.

"She's pregnant." Rose's head snapped round to search his face to make sure he was serious.

"Does he?" She started frowning but he knew what she was asking.

"No. She doesn't even know it yet. But he is so alive and growing bigger every day." He smiled in wonder, the smile on his companions' face evolving into a brilliant grin.

"They have a son." She continued grinning then turned to the Doctor raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"How long have you known?" She waited for him to respond but he turned his head away from her trying to hide the beginning of a grin. "Doctor?" She warned. He chuckled, the sound of it making Rose feel a little giddy.

"Since it happened." He admitted turning to look at her. Her face contorting slightly, he realised what she must have been thinking. "Oh Rose, yuck, as if I'd want to hear it let alone see Mick...or Martha, I mean...urgggh" He shivered involuntarily in disgust at the thought of Mickey naked and doing THAT, it was bad enough before he regenerated thinking about him doing THAT to Rose, Martha he didn't mind but he still didn't want to think about Mickey period. He glared at Rose who was hysterical beside him. He sat pouting staring ahead of him trying to ignore her. But he couldn't help it; he kept glancing at her giggling, his lips beginning to curl into a smile. "Stop it." He warned unconvincingly. She laughed harder then sighed happily as her giggles subsided. She reached up and ruffled his air affectionately.

"So how did you know?" She asked turning slightly away from him so she could lean against him as he moved his arm to rest along the back of the log behind them.

"Well you humans exude pheromones and hormones; it wasn't hard to pick up on the change in Martha's biochemistry." He waved the hand behind her head in a noncommittal fashion as he spoke. "Happened the night we came back from Fraxis." She nodded, thinking it over.

"So, what is it like one of your Jedi mind tricks or somefin'?" She asked, taking a bite out of an apple she pulled from the bowl at their feet. He laughed at that. "No, it is not a 'Jedi' mind trick as you have so eloquently dubbed my abilities Rose." She grinned taking another bite of her apple.

"Then how come you knew?" She laughed. "If you weren't reading her mind, can the TARDIS tell or what?" He glanced down at the side of her face, so he could judge her reaction as he answered her.

"I can smell it." He replied and she stilled, before turning to face him.

"You, you can...smell it?" She repeated and he nodded once, eyes not leaving hers trying to read what she was thinking. _Oh god. _She stilled as something occurred to her.

"So," She began, "When we were travellin' before, and even now, that pink fluffy hot water bottle that appears on my bed, you know, every couple of weeks, it, it wasn't." She stuttered.

"No, it wasn't the TARDIS." He finished.

"Oh." She breathed shifting her blush away from the Doctor but leaning back further into his side.

"That's a little embarrassing." Well not really, he was her best friend so of course he would take care of her when she needed it. "Thanks." She added quietly.

"You're welcome," He murmured and sighed, she'd gone quiet again. "I'm not human Rose; trust me when I say it helps to remember that."

"Yea." She began, and then groaned loudly dropping her head to her lap in embarrassment as another thought struck her.

"What?" He asked genuinely surprised, as she laughed nervously.

"Nuffin'" She mumbled pitifully.

"No, what? Really Rose, I can't read your mind, if you don't tell me I don't know." He chuckled, noticing the tips of her ears were quiet an impressive shade of pink. She tried not to look him in the face.

"Well I'm glad." She laughed and groaned again. "Oh god that means you knew." She slapped him in the stomach.

"Knew what?" Now he was confused but found her discomfort slightly amusing even if he didn't know why yet. She noticed his lips curve up as much as he was trying not to giggle.

"Oh don't you dare laugh!" She poked him in the ribs. He stilled her assault with the hand not resting behind her head. "You, you, cheeky alien bastard!" She scolded, but he wasn't following.

"You said you could smell us human's hormones and stuff, pheromones." She huffed. "Which means every time I, well you know, did stuff, oh god you knew, damn it you knew!" She blushed again furiously and turned into him hiding herself under his arm. That was when recognition hit.

"Oh, OH," He laughed, he was following now. "Yes, I did." He admitted. "Not that I'd ever be one to judge Rose, whatever naughty little things you get up to in your own time are none of my business." He had the decency to blush a little himself.

She peered up at him through her fingers which were still pressed to her face. She supposed if he had been anyone else, she might have been upset. At least he hadn't been able to see into her head, god if only he knew that all of it was over him, well either this him or the last one. She wondered just how many times in the last four years they'd been travelling she'd had to get herself off because of him.

"How many times?" She asked curiously, he raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"How many times Doctor?" She queried again.

"I, I'm not sure." He suddenly became interested in a speck of dirt on his trousers.

"Liar." She laughed, removing her hand and just looking up at him. "You've got that massive Time Lord brain up there and you can't recall how many times I've..." He muttered something indistinguishable under his breath.

"What was that Doctor." She smirked and he rolled his eyes at her, before answering.

"Two hundred and forty-three times over the past four and a half years, not including any time spent in parallel worlds, hospitals or prison cells." He stared her in the eyes, challenging her.

"Holy shit." Was the muttered response he received as they both erupted into laughter. They sat quietly for some time watching the crowd dwindle down as the night went on. Rose was the one to break the silence.

"Doesn't it bother you?" She asked, absently fiddling with the bottom of his suit jacket.

"Doesn't what bother me?" He murmured shifting so Rose was nearly leaning against his chest. He dragged his long brown coat from behind him and spread it across their lap as the night air began to cool.

"Well you spend so much time around humans, me, Martha, Donna, Jack, doesn't it bother you, I don't know, smellin' us all the time?" She frowned up at him.

"Not really," He mused, "Despite what you may think people, even Jack, don't think about sex all the time, so the chances of actually coming across someone oozing pheromones, is usually non-existent. And the time I spend with the others really is quite limited because I'm always with you. Even back before Pete's world, we were always together, so it made sense that I sort of tuned into your biochemistry anyway. Makes it a lot easier in an emergency to know what should be from what shouldn't." He finished and grinned down at her. She snuggled into his jacket.

"I like findin' out new thing about you." She laughed. "Even if they are a bit alien." He snorted.

"What else can you do?" She realised she had never really asked before, and considering his relatively open and sharing mood this evening, despite his earlier brooding, she was game. He regarded her intently for a few moments, her shiver had nothing to do with the temperature, but he wrapped his arm lightly round her back pulling her closer.

"Well," he began, "The two hearts you already know about, regeneration etcetera." She nodded. "I have the power, knowledge and technology to travel through time and space, and am the proud owner of the last TARDIS in existence and one of THE most impressive brains in the entire universe, all of which you know and find absolutely incredible." He waggled his eyebrows at her before resting his chin on top of her head. She shook her head and laughed.

"What you don't know," He whispered turning serious. "is that I can smell fear and hatred and feel every emotion possible from every person around me every second of every day, I possess an unimaginable strength which I will never use against another living soul no matter what." He felt her breathing hitch.

"I can outlast twenty of the fittest men you could possibly imagine and could track your scent across time and space itself." He moved his head a little lower so he was whispering across her ear. "And if that alone wasn't enough," He tucked a hair behind her ear. "I can hear the gentle hum of your blood as it courses through your veins, feel the beating of your single heart from a hundred yards and take away your free will with a glance." She shivered, her eyes slipping closed, opening when his hand ghosted across her ribs over her heart. "Time is mine to command, to slow down, speed up or stop," She let a rush of air out of her lungs as she felt her heart beat change tempo as he spoke and stop for just a second.

"Doctor." She murmured eyes slipping closed once more. He let slip just the tiniest whisper of himself and wrapped it around her. She took a sharp intake of breath, remembering a time not so long ago when he had lent her a small fraction of the power he held.

"I could suspend you and this entire planet in time and keep you there for eternity, purely with the power of my mind." His voice was but a breath of air. "And always, every waking moment of my existence, all that was, is, could be, can't be." He looked down at her; she hung on his every word. But it wasn't because he was making her, he didn't have to, she did it because she wanted to, clung to him of her own free will.

He moved away from her then mood changing back to hyperactive, babbling Doctor Mode. It nearly gave her whiplash.

"Weeeeell, that and a few other things that aren't best discussed in polite conversation." He waggled his eyebrows and smirked. Rose rolled her eyes at him and composed herself.

"You forgot to mention the real reason the TARDIS is bigger on the inside." She giggled at his frown. "Well how else are we gonna drag round that giant Time Lord ego without the extra space?" He threw his head back with a laugh before he nudged her gently.

"Come on Rose, time for bed." He stood and pulled her up after him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Authors Note:** _A big thank you to all my lovely reviewers. Your love is much appreciated._

Chapter 11

Their sleeping quarters were small, with piles of soft wool and pelt scattered across the floor and hanging from the walls. The glowing embers in the centre cast just enough light to ensure they didn't trip over as they entered. Rose stayed by the flap that was the door while the Doctor moved to place a log on the fire.

"I feel like I should be runnin' round in moccasins and a loin cloth." She snorted earning a smirk from the Doctor as he kicked off his converse and sat down on a particularly comfortable looking pile of furs pulling one up as he ginned at her.

"Better get in then Pocahontas." He teased as she removed her shoes and jacket and climbed in behind where he sat, snuggling into the warm plush. When she was comfortable he leaned back, propping his head against her belly. She ran her fingers through the tips of his hair as she thought back on the events of their day. He was enjoying the feeling of her fingers in his hair, eyes drifted open at the sound of her voice.

"How come we didn't see Erurainon and Ithilwen at the party?" She queried glancing down at him.

"They weren't really there to begin with." He explained. "More of a holographic projection I suspect." She frowned.

"But they touched us, can holograms do that?" He gave her the stupid ape look he had perfected during this regeneration.

"Maybe holographic wasn't the best description, think of it more like a type of astral projection, a mind strong enough can make it feel and appear as though physical contact is happening, but it's merely a stimulation of the right nerve centres in the brain to trigger sensation in the appropriate part of the body." He looked up at her. "Understand?"

She stayed silent as she processed this new information. "So, you're not really feeling it but your brain thinks it is?"

"Exactly." He grinned and turned onto his side to face her. She adjusted to the change in his position by wrapped her knees up around his back so he could lean against her. He wondered what anyone who found them might have thought of him almost cocooned against her bottom half. He returned his head to her belly and thought that perhaps he very much didn't give a toss.

"What kind of species could do that?" She chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Should we be worried Doctor?"

"Nah," He smiled. "If they'd been out to harm any of us I would have known, can feel it remember." He tapped his temple and her fingers drifted to play with the hair just above his ear.

"Wonder when we'll come here for the first time...again." She frowned and he let out a snort of laughter.

"Ah the joys of time travel Rose." She laughed too.

"Can you do it?" She asked after a while.

"Can I do what?" He chuckled.

"Well you said, ages back, that as far as beings with you know, a powerful mind, you said that yours was about as good as it comes." She brushed a stray hair across his forehead and fiddled with it. "So can you do that projection thingy too?" He smirked at her, her leg behind him flinching as a feather light touch tickled the sole of her foot. She gaped at him.

"That's so unfair." She laughed at him grinning up at her.

"How come you never told me about all this before?" She whispered still grinning at him.

"Well, a man's gotta keep some things a mystery, how else will I keep you coming back for more?" He winked earning himself a poke in the chest from her free hand.

"How old are you?" The question startled him slightly. "Really, I mean you've been nine hundred ever since I met you."

"Rose." He gasped in mock indignation. "It's rude to ask those sorts of question." She snorted. "I've never asked how old you are."

"Yea, that's cause' you already know, smarty pants." She accused. "Sides' you're not a lady, so it's not rude."

"How do you know I'm not the female of my species?" He countered smirking at her.

"What do all Time Lords have five o'clock shadows?" She quipped back. "Sides' there are some things that just scream male. Just think of all those women over the years that have fallen at your feet."

"They do not." He screeched, mouth gaping open and closed.

"Oh really," She challenged. "My mum for one, Jabe, Lynda with a Y."

"They hardly count." He argued as she continued over the top of him.

"Cassandra, Sarah Jane, Martha, Reinette, Good Queen Bess, although how that works for her now is beyond me." She took a breath and dared him to deny it.

"Well," He shrugged. "Can you really blame them, I am gorgeous after all."

"And so modest too Doctor." She teased. She shifted her top half so she was closer to his face.

"But really, tell me, I wanna know...please." She smiled and he glanced away from her letting out a breath loudly before he answered.

"Well," He drew the single syllable out into several as he calculated it in his head. "Probably more around the vicinity of oh about thirteen, give or take a few centuries."

"Thirteen centuries." She whispered and he nodded. "That's one hell of an age gap." She laughed then. "Mum was right to slap ya." He groaned and glared at her. They were quiet for a time.

"I miss em' sometimes." She stated quietly.

"Yea." He reached over, clasping her small hand in his own. "I know. Me too."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You miss my mum?" She smirked.

"Well, what can I say; the woman could make a mean cuppa." She smiled at him, giving his hand a little squeeze as she turned her head to the ceiling. He looked up then.

"Do you ever regret..." Her head turned, eyes snapping to his.

"Never." She stated in a tone of finality eyes drifting back to the space above her. "I made my decision. I could never regret choosing to be with you."

"Good." He murmured placing his head back on her stomach.

"She wasn't really all that good you know." He added as more of an afterthought.

"Who?" She frowned.

"Bess." He said as if it should have been obvious. She groaned.

"I really don't wanna know Doctor."

"I wasn't talking from experience Rose," He chastised. "And while you all might like to think I deflowered the virgin queen, all I really did was hug her."

"You what?" She gaped. "So why did they say..."

"Think of the time and place, Rose." He started. "Holding hands in the street would be considered unbecoming."

"Oh," She grinned inwardly. "Good." She muttered.

"Couldn't have shagged her even if I had wanted to." He laughed. "Or any of the others."

He turned taking in her confused expression and smirked.

"Bet that threw your whole presumption about me and Madam Du Pompadour right out the window."

"Yea, kind of." She laughed. "But why?" He considered her for a moment.

"Well, I suppose I can tell you since we're now in the habit of sharing our dirty little secrets." He waggled his eyebrows and she giggled.

"Yea well it doesn't count that you and your nose already knew mine." She teased. It was dark now, the embers holding only slight warmth. He shifted off her and climbed under the blanket of pelt. Their faces were level as he barged her over and flogged half her pillow. She could feel the cold seeping through the soft covers, as well as from the spot he occupied next to her.

"You're cold." She whined softly.

"Hold on." He muttered, then after a few seconds he pulled her against him, faces nearly touching. Her hands pressed against his hearts, she could feel warmth radiating off him.

"How did you do that?" She smiled barely able to make out his smirk inches in front of her.

"Superior Time Lord physiology." Came the smug response.

"Careful Doctor, this room's only big enough for the two of us." She teased.

"Cheeky." He huffed, his breath tickling her cheek. It smelled sweet to her.

"So you were saying." She encouraged softly. He shifted a little wrapping his arm round her waist. She toyed with the top button of his shirt, silently thankful he had ditched his suit jacket and tie.

"Ah yes, back to my dirty little secrets." He teased. "Well, they're not really I suppose, I'm just different, my physiology is different as you may have noticed, leaching off my body heat." She giggled reaching higher up his chest unconsciously to play with the hair poking out at his collar.

"The imperative was never there with Time Lords, to have relations with others, I mean the ability was there, but biologically the species itself didn't revolve around the need for sex as a means of procreation, so it kind of just...disappeared I guess. There were only a scarce few who actively engaged in any sort of relations with another being. All too dusty and old, thinking it was above them. For a while that's what I believed too. You would have hated some of the younger versions of me Rose." She smiled closing her eyes.

"After a time, we realised that **that** part of our physiology ceased to function, save for those bound to each other, and even then it wouldn't happen without a trigger." He frowned noticing how quiet she was, if it hadn't been for her still playing with the hairs on his chest he would have assumed she was asleep.

"Are you still following Rose?"

"Yea." She breathed. "Keep goin'."

"The reason I have an exceptional sense of smell is because our whole being reverted to a basic animalistic instinct. I can smell your body chemistry, as well as everyone else's, because that instinctual part of me will always attempt to search out a mate, especially now with no one left." He really hoped she could understand because he was damned sure the '_dog on heat' _analogywould not pass his lips.

"So," She questioned. "You what need like a chemical trigger to dance?" He ginned at her in the dark.

"Yup." He replied with a pop.

"Which means you couldn't have done anything wif any of em' cause they're not the same species and they don't emit the same smell?" She frowned.

"Exactly." She was a smart one his Rose, he knew she'd put it all together in that marvellous brain of hers. His smile fell when he felt her body slump and she sighed.

"What?" He questioned gently but received no response. He focused on the dark in front of him, eyes adjusting to allow him a view of her face in the pitch black. Oh the look on her face was so sad. She closed her eyes tight; unaware he could see her, as a tear slid down her cheek.

"Rose what's wrong?" He whispered concerned.

"Nuffin'," She tried to sound neutral rather than the Earth shattering disappointment she felt in her heart.

"You're lying." She took in a deep breath.

"S'just sad is all." She started. "None of em' compatible with you I mean, all too human."

"Yea." He nodded, her next sentence dropping his hearts to the pit of his stomach.

"Jus' like me." She sniffed, trying to hide her silent tears in the pillow.

"What?" He breathed, he hadn't thought of that and her sadness overwhelmed him. Oh he should have known where this conversation was headed. And now she was upset and again it was all his fault.

"The reason you don't want me." She spoke so quietly he nearly missed it even with his superior skills, and it took him by surprise.

"What makes you think I don't want you?" He asked incredulously and loud enough that she was sure the entire camp might have heard if it hadn't been so late into the night.

"But you jus' said." She began.

"What I said." He stressed. "Was I need pheromones to turn me on Rose. Not that that was any indication of me not wanting to be with you." He was angry at himself now and sat up dragging his hand through his hair and down his face. This was bound to come to a head sooner or later. Oh but he wished it could have been later. He felt her sit up next to him.

"Got a funny way of showin' it." She remarked slightly perturbed by his shift in mood.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He snapped. Oh he shouldn't have done that. He turned to face her.

"Where should I begin?" She challenged, she didn't deserve this. "How bout' sending me home from the Game Station, or trying to send me to Pete's world the first time round, and then trying to send me back after I found you again!" Oh she was livid. "I did everything I could to let you know how much I loved you and wanted to be with you without smothering or domesticating you, you dumb alien. And what did I get? Thrown away that's what!"

"I sent you away because I loved you." He growled.

"I would rather have died with you!" She snapped back.

"You almost did!" He shouted leaning closer to her face. "It took all the strength I had to bring you back from death after you ripped the vortex open, and then it killed me."

She yelled back breathing heavily as she stared at the sound of his voice. "Well someone had to save you from your own stupidity; you carried a death wish like I carried my heart on my sleeve."

"And I stole it and bound it to mine!" He bellowed.


	12. Chapter 12

"_I sent you away because I loved you." He growled._

"_I would rather have died with you!" She snapped back._

"_You almost did!" He shouted leaning closer to her face. "It took all the strength I had to bring you back from death after you ripped the vortex open, and then it killed me." _

_She yelled back breathing heavily as she stared at the sound of his voice. "Well someone had to save you from your own stupidity; you carried a death wish like I carried my heart on my sleeve." _

"_And I stole it and bound it to mine!" He bellowed._

Chapter 12

"You what? She whispered. His voice broke as he replied.

"On the game station; it was the only way I could keep you alive."

She was silent and he turned towards her. "It's why you get distracted sometime when you're around me. It's why you can smell ME."

"How did you kn..." She began frowning.

"You said you could smell honey and thunderstorm, the smell during a thunderstorm, the smell of ozone?"

"Yes." She whispered and gasped as the smell invaded her nostrils.

"That's me Rose, my body's pheromones. The smell of my skin, my hair, my blood, all the chemicals that make me ME."

"But you said..." She was having trouble concentrating around his heady scent. "But we're not even the same. You said...different...wrong...species." She was nearly delirious.

"I know what I said." He nearly snapped at her again. "Which is why this is so very, very wrong."

"Not following." She mumbled swaying slightly. Oh god he was intoxicating. She almost sighed in relief, clarity beginning to return as he cut off the source of her distraction.

"When I said I bound you to me, I didn't literally mean my hearts to yours, that's a physical impossibility, any heart only functions to pump blood around and..."

"Doctor, point." She was still light-headed but had enough presence of mind to notice his rambling.

"My point IS that I grabbed hold of the tiniest part of your mind, which, I might add, I thank any gods that might be out there that it recognised me because it worked. I dragged you back from the brink, so very nearly gone but you knew and you reached out and you clung to me, with everything you were. You saw all of me, what had come before and all that is to follow, even if you don't remember it, the entirety of space and time all compressed, all at once, into your fragile human brain and it was terrifying." He was breathless. "And I kissed you. Exchanged apart of myself with you while I was dying. To take a mate on another's fate Rose, that's what you said."

"I don't remember..."

"The only reason to bind two minds together, especially with Time Lord's, is for the sole purpose of mating, Rose. A lifetime's long bond, a marriage if you will. I literally stole you from myself, not that it was my intention to take a mate, a little presumptuous of me too I might add, but I had to save you, I was so attached to you then and even more so now."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" She asked.

"I didn't think that it would stay in place through the regeneration process, but it did, and you have no idea how heavily you influenced the way I turned out. How this regeneration was designed with you in mind, to cater so very specifically to you." She stayed silent, the only sound echoing around the room his ragged breaths.

"But something went wrong." She spoke. "Didn't it?"

"Yes." He replied. "I should never have let you into my mind, it was dangerous and stupid and the reason the Fraxian's targeted you."

"What really happened on that planet?" She asked hesitantly and it took him a while to respond.

"They played with your mind Rose, when they found they couldn't break into mine. But you still had traces of me in your head from that night, a mind touched by a Time Lord to them was close enough and while they tried to break your mind, they tortured your body. You left yourself so open waiting for me to make contact again that they picked up on the traces of me inside you head as it broadcast. I was careless."

"So why am I so affected now then? Was never like this before." She mumbled shifting uncomfortably next to him.

"What they tried to do to you, DID do to you depending on which non linear perspective you'd like to take, made your mind reach out, that tiny dormant spark in your subconscious screamed through the TARDIS and very literally dragged me in, but not this ME which was who you were trying to find for help, you plucked out my future's consciousness from a weak point during a regeneration and drew it inside your mind."

"Is that even possible?" She asked quickly.

"It's not impossible, but I usually try to stay in the safety of the TARDIS during regeneration, it's why we had to leave Satellite 5 so quickly."

"Are you serious?" She gaped thinking it over again. "There's another one of you swannin' about in my head?"

"Two actually." He whispered, not sure whether he wanted her to hear anymore or not.

"Bugger me." She breathed. He had braced himself for her onslaught but was surprised when nothing came.

"You're taking this surprisingly well." He remarked focusing his eyesight so he could see her facial expression. She was thinking.

"So, how does that explain the pheromones then?" She couldn't work that part out. Or the other parts really but who was she to question why her subconscious was harbouring two Time Lords, the same Time Lord...yup here comes the head ache. She groaned.

"You may be human, but the part of your brain that contains the other me's registers as..."

"Time Lord." She stopped him, it really was that obvious. "So can you feel it? You know like you said you'd know if there was any others?"

"No, they're still only me." He sounded a little disappointed. Then a rather strange thought occurred to her and she smirked.

"Always knew you were in love with yourself." He gaped at her in the darkness.

"Oh, please tell me you didn't just say that." He moaned but she carried on. "I tell you that you were mind-raped and tortured and are currently sharing your mind with whatever I become in the future, and you're making sexual connotation?" He was astounded.

"It's all a little incestuous really." She frowned. "Is that the right term for it? Maybe tencestuous since you're the tenth version of you." She giggled to herself. "But come on, think about it. The you in me is attracted to well, you?" She snorted.

"Oh please, Rose this is no time to be laughing." He scolded flopping back onto the pillows. "And besides the attraction isn't coming from me, despite the fact that you have random me's in your head, you're feelings sit predominantly, it wouldn't happen if you didn't..."

"What?"

"You know..."

"Wanna jump your bones?" She smirked flopping back next to him.

"Yes, well..." She could feel him squirm next to her. She started laughing. She couldn't help it, this was just too weird to fully comprehend. When she had settled down she rolled to face him, well, face his general direction.

"So, just so we're clear." She began. "To you, I **sort** of register as the same species."

"Sort of, yes." He agreed hesitantly.

"But only cause there are two of you inside my head."

"Sort of, where's this going Rose." He asked suspiciously, she knew that if she could see he'd be looking at her with a single raised eyebrow.

"Just humour me." She frowned at him before replacing it with that cheeky grin of hers.

"Okay." Was his cautious response. He could see her expression, wondering what she could possibly be finding so amusing about the whole situation.

"So, assuming that, for arguments sake, I'm not totally 100% human at the moment."

"Hmmm." He was right he wasn't going to like this.

"And I did this..." She whispered shutting her eyes tight, his close proximity helped to awaken those butterflies that until now had lay dormant in her stomach. She recalled every instance she'd dreamt of him, both of him, touching and caressing her in her dreams and during her waking moments of self-fulfilment, the deep desire she still had pent up from the time she had spent back with him after being alone for so long on Pete's world, and from the times before, the lingering hugs and gentle brushes, their hands clasped together, his soft cool skin against her warmer...She stopped at the sudden gasp from beside her.

"You need to stop." He warned, his voice dropped from its normal pitch to a lower huskier tone, she couldn't help but find it appealing and her belly fluttered.

"Don't know wha' you're talkin' 'bout." She breathed, slightly wary but encouraged by the fact that what she had surmised seemed to be working. And then even more so as the smell of him began to pour off him, dancing around her nostrils and sending a shot of warmth down to her belly.

"Liar." He growled, she could feel him shifting then she heard his words from the other side of the room.

"You really need to stop that Rose." He muttered almost sounding like he was in pain. But she was too far gone, whatever this was, was working and she wanted him desperately, had done long before any of this had begun. She stood carefully then moving slowly round the outer walls, following him instinctually by his scent as together they circled each other, she was like a wild animal sizing up her prey. He could see her with perfect clarity, her pupils were dilated, skin flushed an enticing shade of red as her blood moved to cool closer to her skin. Heat shot threw him as her scent invaded his nostrils once more, stronger this time.

"This isn't how it's supposed to be." He growled again.

"I don't care." She replied, continuing to circle, her predatory stance a mirror image of his own.

"You're still only human Rose, even if you smell differently, I'll hurt you." He snarled as another wave of her hit him in response. "I'd be more painful than you could possibly imagine." He could feel her closing in on him. Wave after wave of her washing painfully over him, his body beginning to react further to her, he could taste it in the air and it burned through every part of him. The need to taste her, bury himself within her let nature take its course, sink his teeth into her flesh.

"I'm sorry." He gasped. And then he was gone.


	13. Chapter 13

Authors Note: Thanks again to all you lovely reviewers. Your love keeps me writing xxoo. Happy Halloween BTW.

Chapter 13

Too many questions not enough answers. So many thoughts running through his head as he rushed back to the TARDIS. Too little and too much time all at once. So many possibilities stretching out and rearranging, solidifying yet too out of reach for him to grasp hold of. He needed more information and nobody was left to help, he would have to rely on himself, and there in lied the problem. His lack of options had resulted in doing probably one of the most idiotic things he could think of. Reaching into his own mind while reaching for his TARDIS key he barked irritably.

"This is all your fault you know!" He flung the doors wide, then slamming himself against them as he slid down to a crouch, breathing heavily.

"_What's your point pretty boy," _He could feel Nine's smug grin._"You'll get no apology outta me." _

"What am I going to do!" He shouted at himself, voice echoing through the silent console room. The TARDIS tried to soothe him.

"Don't even get me started; I know you had something to do with this!" He shouted at her, marching up the gangway and circling the console with a glare. Sparks flew in his direction in protest.

"_Don't shout." _Nine chastised impatiently. _"Sides s'not her fault so don't take it out on her."_

He braced himself on the console, hanging his head.

"This can't happen." He whispered lifting his head to stare sadly into the time rotor.

"She's coming, and I don't know if I can hold back again." His eyes slammed shut.

"_Then don't" _Nine said simply. _"Gotta be a reason for all this. Nothin' is ever a coincidence."_

"I...I.." His mouth open and closed wordlessly. "I wanted so much more for her. A simple...fantastic...human life. Now look what I've done..."

"_Oh stop feeling sorry for yourself," _Nine huffed. _"You love her don't you?"_

"Quite right." He mumbled, there was no denying it now anyways.

"_Oh don't even get me started on that you stupid prat..." _Nine was cut off as the TARDIS doors clicked shut. The Doctor looked across to Rose's tear stained face as his former self faded back into the recesses of his mind. Slowly she made her way to him, arms wrapped tightly around her, sadness and regret written across her face, replacing the lust and reckless abandon from moments before. He sighed a little in relief making no attempt to move until she was next to him. He stood up slowly, turning to lean against the console and gently pulled her against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist, holding onto him as if he might disappear again.

"I'm sorry...I..." she sobbed into his shirt. "Shhh." He soothed until her sobs quietened into gentle little hiccups. He pulled back slightly and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He was about to speak when the floor disappeared from underneath them.

The TARDIS lurched violently once more as the Doctor tried to crawl up the grating towards the console.

"Doctor what's happenin'?" Rose screamed from her place up one of the coral struts. Which at the current moment happened to be below him as he perched himself up and around the time rotor, trying unsuccessfully to restore the room to its proper angle.

"I don't know." He shouted back reefing the monitor around so he could see it. "We're spiralling through an unused part of the vortex, she's having trouble maintaining the equilibrium of the internal dimensions."

"I can see that." She screamed again as the ship rolled a full 360 degrees leaving herself and the Doctor momentarily suspended in mid air before they came crashing down onto the grating. The Doctor dragged himself back up to the console, glancing briefly across at Rose who had managed to haul herself underneath the console, holding on for dear life. His eyes snapped back to the monitor as alarm bells rung through the console room.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" He bellowed before smashing the console with his fist and pulled another lever, desperately trying anything to make the ship change its course.

"TAKE US BACK WE CAN'T BE HERE!" He screamed at the TARDIS pulling wires out from under the console, disconnecting this and that and rewiring something else all while bracing himself as she continued to shake violently in the turbulence.

"WHERE ARE WE?" Rose shouted over the deep tolling of the cloister bells.

"She's breached the time lock." He whispered staring into the rotor. "We shouldn't be here, we **can't** be here!"

"Time lock? What, wait the time lo..." She stopped. "Oh God." Rose realised that there was only one place they could possibly be. Only one place that was held in an impenetrable barrier unable to be accessed by anyone, not even those who had instigated it, she shivered.

"Oh yes." He breathed helplessly, there was nothing he could do, the TARDIS shuddered and rolled again. They were hurtling towards the impossible, and he was powerless to stop it.

"HOLD ON WE'RE GONNA CRASH!" He reached across the console pulling on the hand break as hard as he could before being thrown clear as it snapped off, sparks erupting from the centre column before the room plunged into darkness.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she awoke, a pair of barely visible brown pin-striped legs stood in front of her. He was unmoving, staring aimlessly at the now broken monitor. She looked around the remains of the once magnificent corals that adorned the console rooms walls. The only source of light in the room emanating from what once was the time rotor, she felt the TARDIS groan in pain. She was relieved to find her still alive.

"Doctor?" She was shaking as cautiously she stood up. Her voice didn't even register to him and she stood looking back and forth between the mutilated console and his terrified expression. "What's out there?" She spoke softly, eyes too afraid to move from the monitor back to his face when she asked. He turned to look at her, she was afraid of what she might find in his eyes.

"There's nothing." He murmured. She could feel him shaking uncontrollably as she held onto his arm and slowly he shook his head. A sob was ripped from her throat and her knees began to buckle as despair and pain tore through her body.

"Doctor, stop." She whimpered into his sleeve, his eyes snapping to hers as he realised what he was doing and wrapped his arm around her, clutching her to the side of his body. He muttered an apology as the feelings that weren't her own gently trickled away. He took a deep breath but stayed silent.

Rose wasn't sure what to do but it was doing them no good just standing here in the dark. "Will she be alright?" She mumbled c3...aressing the organics of the console. She saw his nod out of the corner of her eye, he still remained silent.

"Come on." She whispered, gently pulling him with her. "We must be here for a reason." He reluctantly followed her lead, not once letting go of her still tucked up under his arm and around him. They paused when they reached the doors. He looked down at her, fear radiated off him. His grip tightened as she unlatched the doors.

The sight before them was dark and desolate, chunks of black and burning rocks hurtled past in the distance and above their heads. The stars were dull, almost invisible through the thick smoke that hung in the atmosphere around them. The ground was cracked and cratered littered with debris and detritus; the dust swirled around their feet bringing with it the smell of burning and death. The Doctor moved away from her slightly, taking her hand.

"Is this?" She began gesturing to the destruction in front of them.

"No." He whispered taking a glance around once more before pulling her with him as he detoured around the TARDIS. "We're on the crucible." She nodded, she had no idea what that was, merely grateful he had decided to break his silent streak. They were moving upwards, following the incline until it progressed into a steep winding path that cut into the rock face. She didn't dare look down for a fear she might slip from his grasp and tumble into the burning pit below the mountain. He squeezed her hand as if picking up on the errant thought; she looked up to see him smile sadly down at her.

"It's not much further; I just need to see..." She nodded and moved ahead of him, pulling him along. If this was what he needed, then she would do her best to be his strength this time, as he had for her more times than she could count. He raised an eyebrow at her, slightly confused at her sudden determination. She smiled gently back at him and answered his silent musings softly. "We won't get there if we stand round gas baggin' will we?" He nodded and smiled down at his feet as she pulled him up the mountain. She paused when they reached the summit. He wasn't sure how long they stood in front of the scattered remains of the building that once towered proudly amongst the high peaks of the range. In its ruins lay strewn bits of circuit board and wiring, melted metal and the ever present remains of those lost, dried and dusting away in the wind. He swallowed audibly.

She moved around the base, running her fingers absently across the blackened surface of its remaining walls. She turned and looked at him a question in her eyes. He looked away from her, stuffing his hands into his pockets and scuffing his trainers against the arenose dirt under his feet.

"The crucible contained one of the most powerful defensive systems in the multiverse," he began softly, moving to stand by her and leaning up against the wall. "It was meant to keep the battle away from the home world, but it failed." His eyes shut as he rest his head against the structure behind him. The moon had risen long before they had reached their destination, and now a second slowly ascended into the dead sky. She noted their unique orbit as it appeared they were moving away from them. His eyes opened and glanced briefly from her face to where her vision had wandered.

"We're on an asteroid," He nodded towards the two moons, "That's why their orbits are fluctuating." He explained. "The Time Lords thought it would make it virtually impossible for anyone to break through our defences if the power and control behind them were located where no one would think to look. In all honesty this place didn't look much better before the war, well, except for a few minor details." He pushed of the wall and placed his long slender fingers against it. "The perception filters took care of anyone who wandered too close." He circled further around the remaining wall, trailing his finger lightly along it as he spoke.

"What happened?" She asked following closely behind him. His head fell, joining the rest of his body in a defeated slump. She could see his eyes were shut tightly.

"We were wrong." He laughed darkly, turning further away from her. "Who would've guessed."

"Wasn't your fault Doctor," She began but the angry look he shot her stopped her vocal chords from cooperating.

"Oh trust me, this time it was my fault, all of it," He sneered stepping closer to her, "I killed them, all of them, destroyed my own world, Rose. My own people, burning and dying over and over and over again for the rest of time. That's the beauty of a time war Rose," He laughed sarcastically, "Once events are locked in place, nobody in or out, just the same thing day in day out with no escape, live, fight, burn, die and then rinse and repeat." He paced furiously, pulling his hair painfully from his head. "Thousands and hundreds of thousands of people, of species, of whole PLANETS; all of them burning and dying their souls SCREAMING OUT AT ME!" He slumped to the ground at her feet holding his ears as if trying to drown out the sound. She knelt in front of him, pulling his hands from his face and wrapping them around her, clutching him to her chest as he rocked backwards and forth. She was crying now too.

"Please Doctor, "She sobbed trying to make him look up at her, "You need to stop this now, please." She begged but he wasn't listening.

"I know **you**, you're good and kind and nobody cares as much as you do." She was sitting in his lap now, her tears pouring down her face as she took his between her palms. "I know you did what you had to, no one could do that unless it was the only option left." He opened his eyes then and she stared into their bottomless depths. "And I know there's no-one left to say it, so I will," Her lips were trembling as she kissed his forehead, then wrapping her hand around the back of his head and into his hair, she held his forehead against her own and in her mind began balling together all the love and admiration and devotion, everything she held in her heart, in her very being, for this alien. And whispering gently, she pushed it against him. "I forgive you."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It could have been minutes, or hours, she wasn't sure. She wasn't even sure if time passed in the same way here, if it even passed at all. She sat leaning heavily against the scorched and blackened ruins staring out across the vastness cataloguing every crater and hole while cradling the Doctor's unconscious form against her. She gently stroked her fingers through his hair while whispering sweet nothings and recalling stories of their brilliant adventures together to him as he slept. She felt him begin to stir in her arm.

"Rose?" He murmured gently, moving slightly to shift his weight off her and turn.

"Hello," She whispered smiling brilliantly at him despite her exhaustion, "Welcome back."

He smiled in response and stood up, pulling her with him. She was startled when he swept her up in an embrace and whispered into her hair. "Thank you." She squeezed him back. "Anytime." He pulled back to look at her. She was tired he could tell and the soot from the ground beneath them had stained her hair and clothes. He looked down at his own appearance. His first thought was his current state of undress, well in his opinion anyway. It wasn't often he was without his full suit and coat. He raised an eyebrow as he chanced a sniff at his shirt.

"Come on, let's go back to the TARDIS, you look terrible." He grinned as she slapped him in the arm. "Gee thanks." Was her sarcastic response, then she remembered something from before, while he had been asleep and she'd had nothing better to do then take in their unique surroundings. "Wait a minute." She stopped him, turning to the higher peaks to the right of them.

"Is this the only thing here, I mean weren't there anymore buildins' or anythin'?" She asked turning back to face him. He frowned and glanced around once more before replying.

"No, this was it. Didn't need anything else. Bigger on the inside remember." She frowned and looked back to their right.

"Then what's that?" She asked pointing to what appeared to be a door cut into the rock about 100 yards from where they stood. "I didn't notice it at first, just kinda noticed it outta the..."

"Corner of your eye." He finished for her. "That's a perception filter." He frowned at the door as if challenging its very existence with his stare. They cautiously approached it, the Doctor producing the sonic screwdriver from his trouser pocket. It whirred into life as he traced around the offending door. Rose moved closer to the rock face, noticing a slight silver glint. She dusted it off and looked over at the Doctor.

"What about this?" He pointed the sonic at the panel and with a hiss the door slid partially open.

"I think it's stuck." He muttered as he pushed his body between the door and it's housing using himself to open it further. "There we go." He turned back to her.

"What's in there?" She asked nervously trying to peak around him into the darkness. He grabbed her hand and dragged her in after him. "No idea." Despite the dark she could tell by his tone that he was thrilled at the prospect of a new mystery to apply his brilliance to, even if he was only using it as a distraction.

She was pulled out of her musing as she stumbled slightly over some unknown object on the floor below her.

"Wait here." He told her and let go of her hand.

"Oh you've got to be kiddin', I can't see a bloody thin..." She squinted as the light overhead blinked into existence. Her eyes, finding their target, flicked to the Doctor who was standing next to the wall, palm flat against its silver panelling, grinning.

"Shut up." She muttered rolling her eyes trying not to match his expression. Instead she turned her attention to the room in front of her. It was more like warehouse than a room, a decent size in length with two slightly shorter outer sections, with alien machinery lining the high walls some of which resembled the console of the TARDIS. If she could see it from above she would have believed it to be cross-shaped in appearance. She wondered briefly what the Webster's definition of cruciform was; perhaps this was what it referred to. Perhaps the rubble outside had once resembled something similar. She turned to ask the Doctor but thought better of it as she watched him muttering to himself as he progressed along the far wall.

"What is all this?" She asked moving up the middle of the room, glancing between him and the opposite wall.

"Secondary control room, well as far as I can tell anyway." He frowned leaning closer before blowing the thick lining of dust off the monitor in front of him. She stepped down into the centre of the room and her eyes were drawn immediately to the ceiling above her. It was open and she could see the dull space of the outside through the steel and glass that spiralled in a familiar pattern.

"If seen this before." She mumbled more to herself than to him. "In the TARDIS." He moved towards her slowly, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he stepped down next to her and glanced up at the ceiling. He remained silent, staring.

"It's beautiful." She murmured noting the way it seemed to twist and curl with no beginning or end.

"The Seal of the Time Lords." He spoke sadly. "Ancient and forever, a symbol of strength and knowledge and eternity. But no one remembers it now." She slipped her hand into his pocket and wrapped her fingers around his own. "I'll always remember Doctor," She whispered, "And so will you." He looked down at her and nodded, a small smile gracing his features. He looked back to the ceiling as she glanced around at the consoles, moving away from him to run her fingers across them like she would the TARDIS console.

"Does it work?" She asked, he jumped slightly previously lost in a daydream.

"Does what work?" He asked then noticed her eyebrow rose in amusement as she gestured to the room around them. "Oh, I doubt it." He replied disheartened. "Its original power source was drawn from the planet, just like the TARDIS. You remember I showed you the Cloister Room?" She nodded.

"The eye of harmony wasn't it?" It was his turn to nod. He sat down on one of the hard wooden benches around the centre observatory and watched her as she moved about slowly touching over every dusty surface lightly with her small hand.

"So how come the lights still work then?" She queried.

"They're running off the kinetic energy produced as the asteroid moves." He wasn't really up for a full explanation so he was grateful when she nodded. She stopped at the far wall and frowned at the small hole which was cut into it. She bent down to peer into it but all she could see was black. She moved to the next wall and stopped, staring back in his direction.

"So if there's no power," She mused. "Why are there blinkin' lights on all these ones?" She pointed to where she had just been. "And those ones over there?"

"What?" He raised an eyebrow at her and sat forward.

"All these consoles have little blinkin' lights on the monitors, well not a light really but you know, the thing that appears at the top of a computer screen when it starts up, you know a...a cursor?" She turned back to the monitor as he approached behind her. She turned to him, a deep frown creased his brow.

"What is it Doctor?"

"They're on standby." He murmured more to himself than in answer to her question. "But that's impossible." He took a step backwards, running a hand through his already wild brown hair.

"Doctor?" He stood staring so she tried again. "Doctor!" His attention snapped to her.

"What are all these machines? What do they do?" She asked quickly save his attention waver again.

"Umm," He began gesturing to the far wall, finding it hard to concentrate with the number of thoughts he was currently processing. "Those would've controlled the defensive systems, um, transduction barriers, dimensional defence fields." He scratched his head at her confused expression. "They were used to shift the planet outside of the space time continuum, prevent everything and anything getting through. Some of the others controlled temporal baffels, temporal locks to stop travel into the planets past and onto the planet itself." He was pacing in front of her.

"What about the ones on this side?" He stopped pacing and glanced along the wall.

"They're crypto-forming devices." He stared at the bank of monitors and frowned once more.

"What is it kinda like tera-formin' or somethin'?" She asked following him with her eyes as he began pacing again.

"No...weeeeell sort of...but no." He appeared to be having an internal argument with himself. "During the dark times there was a war, way, way back in Time Lord History. Crypto-forming was used to clone whole planets, my planet...another sort of defence mechanism in order to create a diversion. I mean imagine creating several copies of the same planet and hiding the original amongst them, or even better than that, pop it into another dimension and let the enemy destroy the rest." He shrugged spinning round to face the opposite wall once more.

"Or bring it back when the enemies defeated." She whispered and his eyes darted to hers, burning into her.

"What?" He breathed moving to stand directly in front of her. She swallowed, looking up at him nervously.

"What if that's why we're here." She said quietly, he made to move away from her but she grabbed him, speaking a little more forcefully this time.

"Think about it Doctor, we shouldn't be here but we are despite the time lock." He stared into her. "All this is here," She gestured around the room with her free hand, "And it shouldn't be."

"What you're suggesting is impossible." He seethed pulling away from her. "There isn't enough power even if it was possible." She winced as his voice echoed off the vast walls, but she was a little perturbed that he wasn't even seeing the possibility, and he was yelling at her too which didn't help.

"How would you know how much power is here, you haven't even checked yet. Besides, why is it so impossible to think that the Time Lords, if they were as infinitely wondrous and all-knowing and powerful as you keep tellin' me," She shouted back angrily, "Wouldn't have done sumfin' to make sure everything wasn't completely lost!"

"Because they would have told me!" He bellowed. "I should have known about all this. But I didn't!"

"And you accuse my species of havin' tunnel vision." She spat. "Just 'cause you can feel the worlds turning under your feet don't mean they revolve around you!" He made to snap back at her, she could see and feel the atmosphere around him beginning to waver and charge but she wasn't having it, oncoming storm be damned.

"There are older and wiser and more powerful things than you in this universe Doctor!" She circled around him before finally in a lower softer tone she spoke. "Or did you forget about the TARDIS lying down the mountain in pieces." He took a step back then, his mouth snapping shut; it was if his entire argument had been collected by an oncoming bus.

"I...I..." His mouth gaped open again and he shot an uncertain look in her direction. She steped closer and took both his hands, looking up into his stricken brown eyes.

"She brought us here for a purpose, she nearly killed herself to do it," She nodded towards the console. "Maybe you could try it Doctor, make her sufferin' worth it." She looked down at their joined hands. "And if it works, even if there ain't no one else, at least you'll both have a home again." A tear trickled down his cheek and dripped onto her hand. She looked up at him and placing a hand on his cheek wiped away the trail of moisture.

"Rose Tyler," He murmured. "So wise for one so young."

He smiled at her then, she could feel the energy bubbling up inside of him and she grinned back as he enveloped her in a hug before placing her back on the floor and pressing his lips to hers. She giggled despite herself and he pulled back matching her grin.

"Rose Tyler, you are the most brilliant person I've ever had the pleasure of knowing." He laughed at as she tried to hide her blush. She pushed him off gently.

"Yea well," She muttered smiling, looking up to see him still grinning at her. "Go on get on with it." She laughed.

"Right you are!" He clapped and rubbed his hands together.

"Now," He began, slipping his glasses on and moving to the monitors on the far side. "This may prove to be a little more difficult to do inside the time lock, but maybe if I'm very, very clever, which you know I am, and incredibly lucky." He poked his tongue out in concentration of his fingers flew over the dusty control panels, over what Rose assumed must be some kind of keyboard type thingy. "I can remove us from micro space and shift us back into synch and into the proper space-time coordinates within the web." He smiled at her as one by one the monitors on the wall where he stood began to hum and glow as symbols she couldn't understand streamed across them. It resembled a sort of loading window, she guessed.

"The Web?" Rose frowned.

"The web of time, it's oh, it's complicated." Came his distracted response. She reached for the support of the wall as the whole place shuddered and groaned.

"Right," He exclaimed. "We've managed to break out of time lock. It's not broken entirely but we arrived at a time after everything had been destroyed so everything that must will remain as it was." He glanced over at her as he moved to the next console, fingers moving so fast she could barely see them at all.

"Alright Data." She quipped and he turned and grinned at her. "It's not Spock, but it's close enough I guess." He laughed aloud at this.

"I'll never understand your obsession with Star Trek Rose." He replied shaking his head.

"Hmm, it's a human thing." She smiled back just as her pocket began to vibrate, scaring her nearly half to death.

"Hello?" She answered her phone after finally prying it from her pocket. She held it away from her ear as the very irritated voice of Jack Harkness bellowed through the small speaker. The Doctor raised his eye brow at her, while continuing to input data into the consoles.

"Yea we ran into a bit a trouble." She answered.

"No we didn't intentionally leave you there." She frowned.

"Of course we're comin' back, we just can't at the moment." She sighed, looking at the Doctor for help. He just shrugged, of course they'd be worried and since himself and Rose were unable to determine the exact amount of time they'd been here, it'd turned out as he over heard from the screaming coming through her phone, that he'd deposited them back into normal space a week after disappearing in the first place, so naturally their other companions were panicking over not being able to reach them.

"No you don't need to come here." Rose argued with the man on the other end of the line.

"I don't care Jack you can't..." There was a flash of white and blue as Donna and Martha dropped to the floor next to her followed by an incredibly irate looking Jack who was still abusing her over the phone as he walked up to her.

"I will and I did." He snapped. "Don't you ever do that to us again." He grabbed her quite firmly and pulled her against him, his hug almost pushing all the air from her body.

"I thought I disabled that thing." The Doctor chastised as he darted over to the opposite wall and the consoles began loading more data. Jack was about to release a barrage of expletives in the Doctor's direction but was silenced by Donna.

"Where the hell are we?" She glared between the Doctor's pin-striped back and Jack.

"Jack, Martha, Donna," He smiled. "Welcome to the Crucible."

"Oh yea," Donna remarked. "And what's that when it's at home?"

"We're makin' a planet." Rose smiled back at him before glancing at their three companions dumb struck looks.

"Oh," Jack asked. "Just a passing fancy or?"

"No," Rose replied, "This planet is very particular and very, very special, and it took a great deal to get us here." She looked knowingly at the Doctor who nodded and returned to his work.

An hour passed, the consoles were all now lit up and humming quietly away in the background. Donna and Martha were sitting staring up into space, while Rose rested her head against Jacks arm in an attempt to sleep when after another deep rumble and groan the Doctor finally shouted out.

"Rose, I need you to come hold this for a moment." She moved quickly to place her hand on the console. "Just hold this part down until I tell you to stop okay?" She nodded.

"Good girl." He murmured before moving to the console opposite Rose.

"Jack, I need you over here." The Captain complied offering a smirk to which the Doctor merely rolled his eyes.

"Martha over here." He ordered and placed her a few consoles up from Jack instructing her to place her palm face down on the silver panelling.

"And finally Donna, I need you over here." She moved towards him and he spread her hand over the white panel against the wall up from Rose.

Rose, who had been watching him eagerly position his companions smiled to herself. They were positioned within an equal distance around the centre observatory, much like the four guardians on Arcacia, only this time they weren't powerless she thought, they were actually making a difference, even if the other three still had no idea of the importance of what they were doing, even if it was only important and significant to one of them.

"Lucky you lot turned up when you did; don't know how the two of us would have managed." She laughed, the Doctor turned and smiled at her. She could tell he was giddy.

"We would have managed, but since we did have the extra help, it'll make it a lot more stable now." He grinned. "After all, it's not every day we get to bring a whole planet into existence. Why hog all the fun."

He turned serious as he returned to the three panels he had been working on between Rose and Donna and furiously began entering the final sequence that would start the crypto-forming process.

"The data banks already have a complete template to work from," He shouted as the humming and rattling increased in volume, the dust being dislodged and falling from parts of the console and various parts of the ceiling due to the vibrations. "All we have to do is hold on and hope we have enough power." He glanced quickly at Rose. "I've rerouted all the power through the crypto-forming processors, it's all I can do." She nodded at him.

"So we wait." She replied. "And hope this works." She looked back to her panel as a blue spark began to travel up her arm.

"Doctor?" She turned to him and he glanced down at her arm.

"It's artron energy." He frowned at her but was unable to finish his sentence as the building began to vibrate intently, parts of the long forgotten bunker beginning to fall from the ceiling.

"No matter what, don't move until I say so!" He shouted. Rose watched as an unseen wind swirled around them, and a tiny sliver of blue light sparkled in the centre of the observatory as the floor beneath began to retract, the sound of steel on steel screeched through the room as the floor slid back on itself until a gaping black pool of matter swirled in its place.

"HOLD ON!" The Doctor screamed as the swirling matter spun and columned higher and higher like a tornado, the air crackled around them, the power building upon itself. The Doctor watched the monitor in front of him, staring at the empty expanse of space his planet once occupied, the place directly above them now as slowly the dark matter began to ripple the fabric of reality. The Doctors eyes were dragged away as two of the consoles began to bleep and shut down.

"No no NO!" He cried. "Not now, not when we're so CLOSE!" He frantically tried to reboot the lost consoles, as two more from next to Jack began to fade out.

"Two more out here." Jack shouted at him.

"Doctor what's happenin'?" Rose yelled flinching as another blue spark danced up her arm.

"We're running out of power!" He groaned as he tried to bash the consoles into submission. "Please just hold on a little longer." His plea was so desperate.

Rose flinched again as the spark from the console sent a strange feeling up her arm and suddenly images began flickering across her vision.

_A tall woman in robes handing a small bundle to a shorter, older man. _

"_Are you sure the child will survive?" He queried with sad eyes._

"_Yes." Replied the woman, "One day, far from now, this child will house the whole of creation within her soul." She smiled at the bundle in his arms before turning her attention back to the man. "Now hurry we don't have much time. The matrix must be saved if we are to survive this ourselves."_

"_Will you take her yourself?" He asked as he placed the child on a small ceramic tablet._

"_Yes, the Doctor must have no knowledge of this." She sighed. "It is already enough for him to have to bear our deaths on his own, let alone to know what will become of his soul mate."_

_A bright golden light streamed down upon the child, but it barely made a sound, merely continuing to gurgle and kick lightly at its wrapping. When it was over the woman gently swept the child off the tablet and held her to her chest, closing her eyes tight as she kissed its small forehead._

"_You have quite an adventure ahead of you little one." She smiled down at her. "But for now, you must leave us." The child began to squirm and whine. "Shhh now, we will meet again, have no fear of that."The woman's kind eyes moved from the child and Rose was startled as the woman appeared to stare right into her._

"_Now is the time, Rose Tyler." She spoke. "If you are here then his TARDIS has managed to break through the Time Lock and you've found the secondary control room. He is trying to restore Gallifrey, but there is no power left, it's running out as we speak and it's failing. But there is something you can do, must do, something __**only**__ you can do and it's so very vitally important, and I'm sorry, so very sorry but it will cost you your life." _

Rose sobbed, tears streaming down her face as she looked through the woman to the Doctor frantically dashing between consoles.

"_I need you to help us now, Rose Tyler, help us, save us." Tears spilled down the other woman's face a mirror of her own. _

"What do I have to do?" Rose answered her mind already set.

_Behind you is a hole in the wall, it's a hole in the fabric of reality, all you need to do is place your arm in there and hold on as tight as you possibly can and remember. Remember all of this, remember him and remember that you once held time and commanded it to your will and use it to save us, Rose please you have to save us, save the Time Lords." She cried holding the baby closer to her chest._

Rose's head fell and the vision disappeared, her palm slipping from the console, still sparking blue. When she reached the wall she turned to see the Doctor's worried and confused expression. She turned away placing her palms either side of the hole and took a deep breath. She turned once more, the last thing she saw as she plunged her small hand down into the blackness was the Doctors terrified face as he ran towards her screaming her name. Pain over took her but she held on, she looked into her own mind and found time itself, she was just about to reach out and take it when a cool hand reached out and wrapped itself around her wrist gently. She looked up to see an unfamiliar face, but looking into his eyes, as all encompassing and deep as the universe itself, she knew who it was. He smiled kindly at her and lent forward to whispered into her ear. _"Thank you."_ She closed her eyes and in an explosion of radiant golden light she saw everything once more, and then nothing.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The Doctor didn't notice as the once shining world of the seven systems exploded back into reality in all its glory, nor did he pay any mind to the thousands of tiny sparks that blossomed into existence in a part of his head which had been empty for so very, very long. He didn't even bat an eyelid as the sheer white of a transmat beam swept himself and his companions away from the control room as it crumbled and broke around them.

He said nothing.

Did, nothing.

He just sat motionless in the centre of the panopticon, clutching the cold, limp body of a small pink and yellow girl to his chest.

Behind him Donna clung to Jack sobbing as another transmat flashed and Mickey appeared much to the relief of a distraught Martha. He had stayed behind on Arcacia, refusing to travel by Jack's crude means. He caught a hysterical Martha as she flung herself into his arms. They said nothing to each other, nor did they offer their friend any condolences. Non seemed worthy enough.

With red and weary eyes the Doctor looked up at a familiar figure as she knelt down in front of him. She reached her hand towards him and he pulled his dead prize closer to him.

"Please Doctor," The woman whispered. "Let us take her."

The Doctor's mouth opened and closed wordlessly as he looked between the woman in front of him and the woman in his arms. He kissed her hair as he began to rock backwards and forwards, his shoulders shaking in silent sobs as four tall men dressed in robes gently pulled Rose's body from his grasp and lifted her upon their shoulders. He didn't move, merely covering his face with his cold palms as his tears fell, silent at first, then with an almighty scream directed at the ceiling, his cries making the very foundations of the giant glass dome tremble. Every eye in the room now focused on him as his head dropped back to his chest.

"Why her?" He whispered to the woman kneeling patiently in front of him.

"Of all the beings in the entire multiverse, why her Romana?" He questioned louder, harsher, his stare dangerous as he looked up at her.

"Because time bends to no one without consequence." She replied gently. "Not even to the Time Lords. You know this as well as I, Doctor." He looked away from her, swallowing thickly.

"Then I will no longer bend to it." He stood then, drawing himself to his full height, Romana following suit, a look of fear and confusion etched across her pale features. Features he had dreamt of many times along with all the others screaming out in pain.

"What?" She questioned.

"You heard me." He spoke in a low, deadly tone. He glared at her, and then turned to face the thousands of others seated in the alcoves and balconies around the panopticon.

"The Time Lords have returned." He laughed darkly throwing his arms up then dropping them limply back to his sides. "But to what end?"

He glanced around the circumference of the room, nobody moved or made a sound. He commanded their attention through sheer will alone.

"The almighty Time Lords cursed once to extinction now to forever stand idly by and watch the horrors of this universe slowly decay and destroy the good that's left?" He spat angrily. "I may have torn this planet apart but you destroyed yourselves, so pompous and full of your own self-importance, no that, THAT, was what destroyed you." He was bordering on insanity, could feel himself teetering on the edge of the abyss and oh how strong the feeling to fall pulled at his soul. "We proclaim the gift of foresight and the power to do the impossible, but what good is it if it makes no difference." His eyes fell on the doorway the chancellery guard took Rose's lifeless shell through.

"I hope you've learnt something from her sacrifice, hope that with the renewal of your pitiful existence you challenge what has come before, and stand up for something that's worth a damn!" He walked back towards Romana who stood motionless, an expression of indifference staring back at him. He held her gaze as he spoke. "Because I quit." His eyes didn't waver as gasps and whispers echoed throughout the chamber.

He turned, marching towards the TARDIS which stood proudly under an alcove. She was grieving for him, ecstatic to finally be home, but the experience marred by devastation. And now he would take her way once more. He pressed a hand to the blue exterior of his one true constant companion. Jack, Donna, Martha and Mickey stood staring at him as he caressed the ship, communicating silently with her, their shared despair touching the minds of every Time Lord present.

Romana stepped forward. "All is not lost Doctor." She spoke gently to him.

"I've already lost all I could possibly bear." He replied despondently, continuing to stroke the outer hull of the TARDIS.

"Stay with us, teach us," She urged. "LEAD us, Doctor." He turned to face her.

"Why?" He asked incredulously. "I told you I'd had enough; I denounce my position as a Lord of Time." He was in her face, astounded that her of all people would question his decision.

"Stay Doctor, become what you were born to be." She pleaded. "Make the right decision. The right choice..."

"What?" He stared into her, his mind reeling a million miles a minute. "What did you just say?" He asked again.

"Make the right choice." Romana repeated sincerity burning in her blue eyes. She was startled as the Doctor collected her in a fierce embrace.

"Oh Romana you're a genius!" He laughed placing her back on the floor.

"I beg your pardon." She questioned his retreating form as he sprinted across the panopticon shouting as he passed his companions.

"SHE'S ALIVE!"

They each shared an identical look of confusion as they glanced between themselves. Jack was the first to move to follow him, then the others followed by Romana. They chased him through corridor after corridor until they came to the open door he had disappeared into. Jack stopped and stepped inside slowly as he watched his friend cautiously approach the stone tablet. It was covered in a deep red velvet cloth and was bathed in the light from the twin suns as it poured through the glass atrium of the ceiling. He could see the outline of her still form underneath. The Doctor stepped up onto the bottom rim of the tablet, sucking in a breath as he gently removed the cloth from her face. He traced his finger tips along her now clean pale skin. She was nearly as cold as he felt without her. Martha clasped a hand over her mouth and buried her face into Mickey's chest.

"Doctor?" Donna reached out her hand to him as if to beg him away and stop.

"She's alive Donna." He moved to the head of the tablet so he could place both his hands and fingertips against her temples.

"Doctor." Romana warned. "Let the dead rest." He shook his head.

"But don't you see?" He pressed. "She has a little piece of me inside her, you remember Fraxis?" He looked up at Jack who nodded, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"What are you talking about?" Romana asked moving further into the room and coming up beside him.

"She has a part of one of my regenerations trapped inside her mind Romana, you remember the Valeyard," She nodded. "Well, she somehow managed to pull those two regenerations into her own mind, the same regeneration really."

"And what of the other if one is the Valeyard?" Romana queried warily.

"The other indeed." He replied only affording her the briefest of glances.

"Oh my." She breathed taking a step back from him.

"What are you gonna do Doc?" Jack asked hesitantly and the Time Lord closed his eyes.

"I'm going to wake her up." He whispered aloud as his mind fell into the darkened depths of hers. He searched frantically through the nothingness.

"Come on, come on." He spoke aloud. "Where are you?"

Donna buried her head in Jacks shirt sobbing as they watched him. Martha looked up at Mickey who up until this point had said nothing.

"Come on Rose." He whispered clutching Martha tighter against his side.

The Doctor frowned as he came upon a single figure standing alone bathed in a single beam of light appearing from somewhere overhead. Everything else remained black. Another figure stepped into the light next to him.

"Welcome Doctor." The Valeyard sneered. His other self looked across at the Valeyard and rolled his eyes before speaking.

"So here is the choice." He stated plainly. "Him, or me."

"I'm not here for either of you," The Doctor replied, "I'm here for her, I know you've been keeping her alive." He looked between them. "Where is she?"

"You will choose." Snarled the Valeyard. "She's dead, they took her from you, your love, your reason for continuing on, and look what they did to her, used her for their own purposes and threw her corpse away to rot in their dark stale halls."

"That's not true, she's alive, that's why you're here!" He bit back. The other him spoke now.

"I'm sorry Doctor, but he is correct." He spoke sadly. "She is gone, not even the two of us could protect her from time itself."

"No," The Doctor whispered taking a step away from them despair and hopelessness seeping through his mind. It couldn't be true, she'd put them here to save her, it made sense.

"They betrayed you, and offer nothing but more death and disappointment."

Maybe he had a point. Why should he stay and fight the good fight if it didn't mean anything, if he didn't have her to share his triumphs with, even if it was only for a short time. She burnt so bright, now her light extinguished. Revenge and hate began to bubble inside him, his eyes snapping open, staring into the Valeyard.

"You would have me chose you and subject the universes to no end of distorted darkness."

He had tried to corrupt his love for her, use it against him to sway him. But she wouldn't want that. She would want him to be the hero, for all those who couldn't stand up for themselves, and he was not about to disappoint her.

"I love Rose, and I will not tarnish her memory of me."

"HA!" The Valeyard scoffed. "Love destroys everything, a pointless pitiful human failing."

"No," The Doctor growled. "Love is giving someone the power to destroy you, but trusting them not to..." He spat at the Valeyard. "Something that's beyond you to understand," He looked towards the Other. "And now I make my choice." The Valeyard made to move forward to reach out to consume him, The Doctor bellowed both within the confines of Rose's mind and aloud, broadcast to all those minds listening.

"I am The Doctor, cousin of the lost house of Lungbarrow of the Prydonian Chapter, Keeper of the Hand of Omega, Times Champion and Lord High President of Gallifrey." He walked towards the Other taking his hand. "Not because I must, but because this is who I was born to be, who I choose to be." He watched as the Other shimmered out of existence, leaving only the Valeyard who smiled kindly at him. The Doctor was slightly taken aback.

"Well done Doctor," He stepped away from him and back into the light, "You made the right decision. And for that, she will live." He closed his eyes and vanished as an expanse of white light consumed the darkness. The Doctor was thrown from Rose's mind as her body began to tremble and glow underneath the red velvet.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Donna shouted.

"She's going to live Donna." He smiled, eyes not leaving Rose's body.

"Doctor, she's?" Romana began.

"The Valeyard gave up his regenerative power." He smiled again eye's not moving off his friend's body. "He gave it to Rose."

"But she's still only human!" Romana cried.

"Not anymore."

Rose exploded into a brilliantly blinding light, causing the occupants of the room to shield themselves against the luminescence. Rose felt herself on fire and it felt good. She was alive.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

She'd never given much thought to how she would die, just as long as it was a good death, an honourable and fearless exit from life. She was happy with her choice, even if it meant leaving the one person she loved more than life itself behind. But she had given her life freely, to give him back what he had lost, and she'd do it again in a heartbeat.

_Rose...wake up._

It's a strange thing, she mused, how you don't miss something until it's gone. It was a strange feeling indeed to consider such a thing as a heartbeat, especially when she didn't have one at all to speak of.

She felt weightless, like she was floating in the clouds on Serenity. She remembered not believing the Doctor when he'd first opened the TARDIS doors and told her to dive in. She smiled to herself, so many wonderful memories. _Rose...wake up._

Her smile fell. She hoped he would find someone to hold his hand, someone to share adventures and danger with, someone to have tea and a laugh with. Someone who'd love him for the rest of his lives.

"And why my dearest would he want to find anyone else?" Rumbled a deep voice from behind her. She sat up and swung her legs down off the table she rested on and smiled inquisitively at the older man as we walked slowly towards her.

"So he isn't alone." She shrugged looked down at her feet swinging underneath her. His chuckle was deep and warm. He stepped closer and lifted her chin gently.

"But he has you?" He frowned, "Why on Gallifrey would he want anyone else?"

Her face fell as her eyes glistened over with unshed tears. _Rose...wake up. _She shut her eyes tightly, she would never regret her decision.

"Because I'm dead." She pulled her face from his grasp and turned away sadly.

"Well that's rather a pessimistic attitude don't you think?" He laughed. "I would have thought you more a glass half full woman Rose Tyler." She frowned at him.

"Sorry, but do I know you?" She asked. "And what the hell are you on about? Are you god or somethin'?" He laughed loudly and stepped away from her stroking his beard.

"Well there was once a time I was thought a god." He smiled gentle. "But nothing more than a man am I, let me assure you. Although now I'm more of a memory, lost in a time long ago."

_Rose...wake up._

"Who are you?" She slid off the bench and came to stand in front of him. He was much taller than her, but not more than the Doctor. He was an old man, how old she couldn't quite guess nor would she attempt it considering the Doctor was ages old and looked about thirty. He wore an elegant cloak of red and gold over a well fitted dark blue suit vest and matching trousers, and on his right hand wore a signet ring embossed with the same intricate symbol the TARDIS and ceiling on the crucible bore. She looked up raising an eyebrow curiously at him.

"Let's just call me, an old friend." He smiled knowingly at her as he produced a fine gold watch from his pocket, flipping it open he frowned at what he saw.

"It's time for you to leave now." He undid the watch from his breast and handed it to her.

"What's this," She frowned at it then back at him. "And what do you mean it's time to leave, I'm dead I can't just leave?" She was beginning to get annoyed with his evasiveness. "And how comes you won't answer any of my questions."

He laughed loudly and leaned forward to kiss her forehead gently. "He's right about you," He shook his head smiling, "You really are quite a remarkable young lady." He nodded down at the watch in her palm.

"A gift of time for you, with much gratitude and love from long ago." He winked. She looked down at it again. When she looked back up he was gone.

"Oi, where'd you go?" She shouted anxiously looking around for any sign of him.

"Open the watch little one," His voice echoed. "You have surpassed every expectation we had of you, now go, full-fill your destiny." She frowned at the ceiling, well where she would expect the ceiling to be. She was about to ask what that was but thought better of it considering the lack of information she'd actually got out of him despite her questioning.

"You will understand in time." The voice echoed once more. "Now Rose, WAKE UP!"

She opened the watch and time spilled out, it poured through her mind and burnt through her veins, she was on fire. She felt every cell ignite and screamed as she burst back into existence.

As soon as the room returned to normal the Doctor was at her side. She blinked at the bright light above her and groaned slightly as he helped her sit up, keeping the long velvet drape wrapped around her front. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hello." She whispered.

"Hello." He replied happily as he dragged her against his chest and held her tight.

"I thought I'd lost you." He whispered into her damp hair.

"Never." She smiled into his chest. Even if he smelt terrible. He pulled back suddenly and place a hand upon his chest.

"Hold on." He frowned, he had thought for a moment that he had felt his hearts beating out at twice their normal speed but only found his two hearts beating as normal. He looked back at her and hesitantly reached out a hand and placed it over her the left side of her rib cage, then slowly moved his hand to the opposite side.

"No." He whispered and she grinned.

"Oh yes."

"How?" He smiled back.

"A gift from long ago." She remarked cryptically and grinned at his confusion.

_I missed you. _She whispered into his mind and he jumped slightly at the contact. She giggled and turned as Jack, Donna, Martha and Mickey came to stand on her other side and she hugged each of them eagerly. They were crying, all four of them blubbering like little kids who'd just seen their puppy kicked. Romana came out from behind Jack.

"They've had quite a time since you've been gone Rose." Romana smiled and nodded at the Doctor, "He even denounced himself." Rose's head snapped to frown at him. He looked away sheepishly.

"Well, I might have said something like that." He mumbled. She eyed him. "Oh alright yes, I did, but they deserved it." Was his response. _And I missed you too. _She smiled and pulled him into another hug.

"Could you help me with this?" She asked the Doctor, gesturing to the sheet she was wearing. He smiled and rearranged it around her body, tucking it in around her chest before helping her off the tablet and onto the floor. She took his breath away and took his hand as Romana lead them out of the morgue and back to the panopticon. Rose was in awe of the beauty of it all, the suns, cast the room a brilliant turquoise and up through the dome the sky was an iridescent shade of vibrant orange.

Her eyes flicked to the Doctor who smiled and Romana turned addressing them and the Time Lords still waiting in the alcoves.

"My fellow Lords and Ladies," She began smiling, "The lady Rose is quite well now, and the Doctor has agreed to give us guidance." A cheer erupted throughout the dome and echoed down the halls. Rose grinned awkwardly at the Doctor as they both took a small bow.

_Wasn't expecting that. _She continued smiling, moving slightly behind the Doctors body as a blush crept across her skin. She was half naked after all, such a great first impression to give the Time Lords she thought.

_Sorry _He had the decency to look guilty. He looked to Romana who nodded.

"Come friends," She gestured to another gilded door way and urged them towards it. "You are hungry and weary, please rest yourselves, for tomorrow we will begin to rebuild, a brand new era for Gallifrey and a renewed hope for the future. You all have our thanks."

The Doctor pulled Romana into an embrace and together the group exited the panopticon. After a brief transmat they found themselves in a foyer where a small robed woman presented them with a small pendant of silver. After the woman bowed and made her exit, they all turned to stare confused at the Doctor. He rolled his eyes and moved to the bank of transmats on the far wall.

"They'll take you up the tower," He nodded at the pendants, "Just step in and they drop you in your assigned rooms. You'll find everything you need already there." He smiled and Jack moved in front of him, collected him in an embrace and stepped into the transmat.

"Good to have you both back." He grinned as he disappeared. Donna stepped in after him and she glanced warily at the Doctor.

"It's alright Donna, it won't hurt." She poked her tongue at him as she disappeared.

Martha and Mickey stepped in together, nodded and disappeared also.

The Doctor took Rose's hand. "It's been quite a day." He laughed gently. "Yea, and then some." Rose smiled.

In a second they were deposited in the centre of a large sitting room with an expansive bank of glass windows with a balcony overlooking the city. The Doctor moved towards the windows, Rose still firmly attached to his hand.

"I never thought I'd see it again." He sighed looking out at the Citadel with its spires and cathedrals and beyond that the red snow capped mountains that seemed to go on forever. Rose hugged herself against his arm and he smiled down at her.

"I don't know how I could possibly begin to thank you." He frowned turning to face her, bringing a hand up to caress her cheek. "You died to give this back to me. Why would you do that?" She really was astounding, the lengths she'd go to for him.

"You know why." She murmured, her eyes not wavering.

"Quite right too." He smiled tucking a piece of stray hair behind her ear, she grinned.

"Go on," He nodded, "Bathrooms through there, I'll be in here when you're ready to eat." He kissed her forehead. "Don't be too long though." He chastised grinning as she slipped behind the door.

The Doctor look his time having showered and changed into a clean brown-pinstriped suit and found Rose waiting for him in the sitting room staring out at the city. She was gorgeous against the colours of the setting suns, oh how many times had he dreamt of seeing her here, now that reality was overwhelming. She was just as he'd imagined only better. He smiled and shook his head; only she could pull off jeans and a hoodie and still be the most amazingly beautiful creature he had ever seen. He walked up behind her and pulled her back against his chest.

"Hello." She smiled resting her hands atop his on her stomach. They both laughed at the growl that emerged from her belly. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards another door.

"Come on, before Mr Mickey and Jack eat everything."

On the other side of the doors they found their friends seated at a large table full of delights and delicacies from across the universe. Jack and Mickey were laughing as Donna created a slitheen out of some of the strange fruits on the table, Martha was decidedly queasy and hadn't touch anything on her plate yet. The Doctor and Rose sat down next to Martha and he pulled a small vial from his pocket and handed it to her.

"What's this for?" She asked looking down at the vial in her hand.

"Drink it," He smiled, "I'll help with the nausea." She sighed and emptied the contents into her glass and downed the liquid. A few moments later she tucked into her food, quite obviously feeling better. He smiled at her.

"Thanks," She smiled. "Don't know what's wrong with me, been feeling a bit off for the last few weeks." She admitted. "Think maybe I'm coming down with the flu." Rose nudged the Doctor. _Tell her. _He frowned at her. _You sure?_ Rose nodded. The Doctor, grabbing Martha lightly by the arm to pull her closer as to whisper in her ear.

"You're pregnant Martha." She frowned at him, swallowing loudly, her eyes searching his.

"Are you serious?" She murmured, a smile beginning to grace her features. He nodded.

"Oh my god." She said loudly gaining the attention of the others.

"What babe?" Mickey asked worried. She smiled at him.

"We're having a baby." Mickey's face was a mask before a giant grin erupted across his face, and Jack and Donna cheered.

"Congrats Mickey, knew you had it in ya." Jack quipped.

"I'm gonna be a dad." Mickey was astounded but quite obviously pleased with their accomplishment. "That's gonna be one good lookin' kid." He laughed kissing Martha.

"Gonna be needing that raise Jack," Mickey laughed as Jack hurled a roll in his direction.

"Nah, this ones on the house, After all we paid for Gwen and Rhys, why not put another wedding on the expense account." He laughed.

"Think I'd like to wait til after," Martha mused looking down at her stomach and ghosting a hand over it. "Maybe wait for a little flower girl?" She smiled at Mickey.

"More like a page boy..." The Doctor was cut off as Rose elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

"We have a son?" Mickey's grin got wider if it was possible. "We're having a boy!" He shouted scooping Martha up in hug, holding her tightly.

"Just couldn't help yourself could you." Rose murmured smiling as she took a mouthful of food.

"Sorry." The Doctor laughed softly. "You know me."

_Thank you. _

He frowned slightly. _What for? _

"For making them happy." She whispered leaning over and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

The Doctor smiled and turned to face a confused looking Donna. He took a mouthful of food.

"What?" He questioned her stare speaking around his mouthful and raising his eyebrow.

"What's going on with you two?" She raised her eyebrow, "You're conversations don't make sense." The Doctor looked down at his food.

"Don't know what you mean Donna." He shovelled another mouthful in.

"Don't play dumb with me Doctor, I wrote the book." She warned, brandishing her fork at him. "I saw what happened in the morgue." The table fell silent, all eyes were on him and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. _You can tell them, I don't mind. _He nodded.

"There see," Donna smirked. "I knew something was up."

"Oh yea," Jack laughed. "What's with that Doc?" The Doctor shrugged.

"I told you she wasn't human." Jack and Donna looked to Rose who winked as the Doctor picked up the salt and passed it her without a word passing their lips.

"How did you..." Mickey started.

"Of course!" Jack exclaimed, "The Doctor's telepathic." He smiled. "And Rose is too."

The Doctor smiled before shovelling in another mouthful.

"So Rose is like you now?" Martha queried. "She's a Time Lord?"

"No," The Doctor shook his head. "Time Lord is title earned through years of training and discipline." The Doctor eyed Donna as she scoffed then continued.

"She's Gallifreyan." He smiled at her happily. "And my god the academy won't know what hit them." He mused stuffing a roll in his mouth as he spoke.

"What's that?" Mickey asked curiously.

"Time Lord school put simply." He replied glancing at Rose. "They'll most probably accept her, all depends what happens when she looks into the schism." He lent back dusting crumbs off his suit jacket.

"Wait, what?" Jack stared at him. "The untempered schism, you can't do that to her." He looked between the two of them.

"I remember what you told us about young time lords Doctor," Martha added warily. "You said you'd never stopped running, what will it do to Rose."

"I'm not sure," He looked over at her, still silently waiting for him to continue his story. "She's already seen time. I don't know what'll happen." He was talking to her now.

"Don't really have a choice do I." She reached out and took his hand.

"No," He smiled. "It's a big responsibility you know, you sure we're up for it?" He asked.

"Yea." She grinned. "Time to stop running Doctor." He nodded.

"There you two go having half a conversation at a time." Donna sulked.

"You really weren't paying attention before were you love?" Jack laughed when she glared at him.

"The Doctor's not just the Doctor anymore." Jack smiled patiently.

"Donna you're looking at the Lord and Lady President of Gallifrey." He grinned and Donna, Martha and Mickey's jaw dropped. Humans, not the most observant of species he thought, earning him another elbow from Rose.

_That's not fair, get out of my head._ He moaned.

_Can't _She laughed. _Too much fun. _

"So you're the boss, boss?" Mickey confused himself.

"Oh yes." He said quietly, a little unsure of it himself, Rose squeezed his hand.

"And Rose is?" Martha pointed.

"Mhhhmmmm." The Doctor nodded.

"But nothings official yet." Rose added pulling that last part from one of the Doctor's thoughts.

"Oi." He laughed. "Their mine, get your own." She grinned.

"And besides," He got up poking her affectionately on the end of the nose.

"You missed the part about being married first."

Her jaw dropped, she hadn't caught that thought in his mind. Her eyes shot daggers at his back as he sauntered off.

"Night." He laughed and closed the door behind him.

_Bastard. _She thought.

All she heard was his laugh echo through her mind as she chased after him.


	17. Chapter 17

Authors Note: _Thank you to all my lovely reviewers, I'm glad you're all still with me. I have decided that once this story is wrapped up I'll turn it into a series or sorts. Going to be starting work on a tenII/Rose fanfic soon, add me on facebook and let me know what you think. Lisa Anne Smith (my location says Cardif, but it's actually Australia). Well back to it. xxoo_

Chapter 17

When Rose finally caught up to the Doctor, he was lounging around in one of the rooms off the balcony staring out into the darkening night. He looked so peaceful; she almost forgot what she'd meant to demand an explanation for. She admired the room's walls and ceiling which were covered with soft cream drapes coming together in the centre to fall over the posts of a large and very cushiony looking bed dressed in the same colours. The Doctor sat in one of the arm chairs, his shoes and suit jacket discarded and his feet propped up on the small table in front of him, breathing in the scent of the night air as it stirred the curtains beside him. She moved quietly, and after slipping off her trainers she deposited herself in the middle of the heavenly soft sheets and snuggled into the mass of pillows at its head. She turned to watch the soft flickering of the oil lamps that just barely lit the room. It was a relaxing change, she thought as she caught the Doctor's attention and he smiled over at her. The first genuinely happy expression she had ever witnessed from him. She grinned back in response.

"Somethin' on your mind Doctor?" She asked sitting up as he moved from his chair and approached her with an uncertain expression.

"Oh so many things," He replied flopping down on the bed in front of her. She moved to pillow her head against his chest and he wrapped an arm around her as he stared up at the ceiling.

"I was serious you know." He stated softy. "About the two of us," He clarified. "The leaders of my world are tied to the planet itself, bound to its very soul. Therefore if we chose to do this Rose, we would have to bound ourselves, properly this time." He sighed.

"Wouldn't be so bad." She murmured into his chest. "Bein' with you."

"Really?" He looked down at the top of her blonde head. "You'd willingly bind yourself completely to me, for the rest of what could be an impossibly endless amount of time?"

"You once asked how long I was gonna stay with you Doctor," She lifted her head and he shifted so they were face to face. "The answers still the same."

"I'm impulsive and completely insane." He pointed out.

"I'm messy and irrational." She added.

"I'm moody and uncontrollable."

"I wander off." Rose replied pushing a stray hair from his face.

"I'm arrogant and rude."

"You're also not ginger." He raised an eyebrow at her before looking away as they both chuckled.

"I'm an age old." He returned softly staring into her.

"And I'd still love you even if you were as old as the universe itself." She whispered closing her eyes as she rested her forehead against his.

"Well I guess that settles it then," He breathed against her lips.

"Yea?" She bushed her nose gently across his before nuzzling his cheek.

"Be my wife Rose," He whispered across her ear, breathing in the smell of her. "You already have both my hearts, and they desire nothing more than to beat in time with yours, through all of time, until the very end of everything."

"Until the very end." She replied pressing her lips gently against his. When she pulled back a shy smile graced his lips, she beamed at him. It wasn't an expression she'd seen before but decided it looked quite good on him. She frowned as he groaned into her hair as he pulled her against him.

"What?" She asked.

"Romana's going to make a big deal of this." He shook his head with a sigh. "I hope you weren't thinking of a small wedding Rose, because when it comes to the bells and whistles Romana knows no bounds." Rose snorted pulling back to look at him.

"Lucky mum's not here," She laughed. "They'd have a field day together."

"Oh my, could you imagine it?" He exclaimed loudly. He frowned as her giggling abruptly subsided.

"She'll never know." She whispered sadly. "Mum, she won't even know..." He wiped the tear from her cheek.

"Yes she will Rose," He stated, a smug expression curling up the corners of his mouth. "Because she'll be here."

"What?" She stared at him as he nodded happily. "But you said..."

"I said," He began. "That travelling to parallel worlds was easy back when the Time Lords existed." He smiled. "And now that Gallifrey is restored, we can quite easily pop out and pick them all up."

"But how?" She asked excitedly.

"Well, it is pretty special this old planet." He pressed a kiss to her nose. "Remember I said Gallifrey sat out of time, one of its defences is to shift it out of our original universe?"

"Yea?" She replied uncertainly.

"We're sitting, right now, right on top of the cross-roads." He smiled. "We're the point of origin for so many things Rose, and right now up there swirling around above our heads in space is every possible time line, every choice, every action. All the TARDIS need do is pluck the right string and there we are." He grinned. "Jackie, Pete, Jake and little Tony. Well not so little anymore."

"How could you possibly know that." She slapped him playfully.

"Because I can see it." He said simply."Every possibility, every fact like tiny threads."

"I knew that, but really though you can see it even across universes?"

"The universes are no longer sealed off." He smiled. "And all those lovely threads of time are out there waiting. And the brightest thread of them all burns fiercely, wrapped ever so tightly around my own."

"The Time Lords?" She frowned.

"No," He shook his head. "You."

"Me?" She smiled catching her tongue in her teeth.

"You represent so many possibilities Rose, ever since I first met you I could feel it, see it." She placed her head back against his chest and hugged herself closer to him. "But never in my wildest dreams could I have possibly imagined anything to the likes of what you've given me, what you mean to me." He looked down at her as she slowly drifted off to sleep. He smiled suddenly to himself as he closed his eyes and watched the tiny threads of their future weave around the two of them. "What you're going to give to me."

"We're gettin' married." She mumbled happily in her sleep. He smiled and slipped into a sleep free for once from torment and nightmares.

* * *

The Doctor was awoken a few hours later by a gentle buzz in the back of his mind. He glanced down at Rose still asleep in his arms and carefully extracted himself from her. He pulled on his trainers and suit jacket and silently exited the room, leaving her to her dreams. He stepped onto the transmat panel and found himself face to face with Romana and the high council.

"What's the meaning of this?" He frowned at her.

"Nothing troublesome let me assure you Doctor," Romana smiled uneasily. "But we must know," She hesitated for a moment.

"Know what?" He raised an eyebrow at his old friend.

"What of you and Rose?" She sat down clearing her throat.

"Oh," He exhaled slightly relieved. "She said yes." He grinned and Romana beamed at him.

"Excellent." She replied adding to the general buzz of enthusiasm that encircled the table. Her smile faded slightly.

"Does she know?" Romana asked quietly. "About the curse I mean, for if she is to become your wife Doctor, then she must be told of Pythia's gift," She spat the last distastefully before composing herself. "She must know that women of our world are not the bearers of the future."

"Rassilon Romana, I've only just asked her to marry me, give me some time." He huffed uncomfortably, messing his brown hair with his hand. "And believe me, that took long enough in coming."

"Indeed," She laughed before sobering once more. "You are aware of the laws of binding, are you not." He rolled his eyes at her and sighed wearily.

"Yes, I'm aware," He replied petulantly. "No we haven't consummated anything. And I really don't appreciate this in front of, well, them." He gestured towards the rest of the council.

"Please don't, we're no longer as prudish as you may believe." Romana piped up, quite pleased with his response. "Once she is awake we shall take Rose to the temple ruins, for only after she has glimpsed eternity will we be able to perform the rights of binding." He nodded rolling his eyes and turned to leave the chambers, he knew she'd already taken care of every minute detail.

"You will stay won't you Doctor?" Romana asked uncertainly. "You meant what you..."

"We will not leave." He cut her off gently. "I must take the others home at some time, but no, not this time. Our place is here." He glanced around seriously at the concerned faces of the high council, but they acknowledged his words with a nod.

"Walk with me?" Romana smiled moving towards him. He bowed a farewell to the council and followed Romana out of the chamber. They walked a ways in silence.

"I suppose," Romana began sighing. "I owe you an explanation. And an apology."

"An apology?" He frowned, stuffing his hands into his pockets as they walked side by side.

"For leaving you in the dark." She stopped and turned to face him. "For leaving you alone without the slightest spark of hope."

His expression was impassive. "I did what I had to do, I don't regret my choice."

"No, but you were made to suffer our loss, and I regret that I could do nothing more to ease the burden."

"What does it matter now really?" He shrugged slightly. "What's done is done."

"Do not think, Doctor, that I don't know the other endless horrors you have suffered in our absence." Romana chastised. "I know of the reapers, the Game Station, The Master, and I know you sent your hearts through the void to be trapped with Rose after Canary Warf. But what **you,** don't know Doctor, is how much of that was necessary, so very critical to us standing here today."

"How?" He questioned eyeing her warily.

"We knew we would be destroyed Doctor." Romana replied seriously as she sat down on one of the stone benches that lined the corridor. "We saw it, and I couldn't accept it. None of the high council could." He remained silent and she continued.

"I stole the matrix Doctor." She admitted. "I was supposed to destroy it but I couldn't. Instead I locked it in a tiny precious vessel, and I hid it away where it would be safe."

"But that's impossible" The Doctor challenged, sitting down beside her.

"Coming from the man who does nine impossible things before breakfast." She snorted.

"But why?" He pressed. "And how?"

"I ensured that the minds of the majority of those killed were stored, all those who fought to defend Gallifrey rather than those who stood by to watch it fall. Call it a form of culling if you must." She sighed. "I left a genetic imprint of myself on the matrix so I too would join them once it was all over, then it was simply a matter of depositing the vessel to where and when you would find it, and time would take care of the rest."

"What vessel?" He screwed his face up at her. "I didn't **find** any _vessel._"

"Oh but you did." She smiled knowingly. "Just think, what's the one thing that you would give up everything for to protect?"

"Rose, but..." His mouth slammed shut. "Rose is the vessel. You stored the matrix in her mind, knowing that she'd be able to survive because you knew one day she'd see into the vortex." Now it started to make sense to him. The vortex, her death on the crucible.

"Or did she survive the vortex because of the matrix?" Romana smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Or, could it be that in those brief moments when she became time, she made sure that the most precious thing she had in all the universes would one day have everything he deserves."

"Oh Rose." He sighed.

"She truly is a remarkable woman Doctor." She placed her hand on his arm and smiled. "The sacrifices she made, even if she doesn't remember."

"She could have saved herself at Canary Warf, but she didn't." He breathed.

"No," Romana shook her head. "The Master would've corrupted and destroyed her."

"And then she came back with Mr Mickey." He smiled, "She never said how and I never questioned it. Didn't care even if she poked holes in the universe, I just wanted her back so badly."

"I truly am happy for the both of you." He pulled Romana into a tight embrace and she chuckled pushing him back.

"Thank you." He smiled genuinely.

"It's good to be with you once more dear friend." She grinned. "Now go to your Rose, sunsrise is upon us soon and we must make the trip into the mountains before the dawn breaks." He nodded.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The trail up Mount Solace appeared as though it had neither seen nor felt the weight of a pair of boots for nearly an age. It was hard to navigate in the limited light but when the three of them finally reached the rocky outcrop they found it was littered with overhanging branches and vines while deep red clusters of grass had grown wild and towered over their heads. The dusty brown pavers that covered the ground were cracked and lifting and the only sign of what this place had once been was the small heath in the centre of the clearing and the remnants of an old well. Romana pulled back the hood of her robes as Rose pulled her own tighter around her and stepped closer to the Doctor as the brisk morning air swirled down and around the mountain and through the exposure of the clearing.

"Where are we Doctor?" Rose asked as they watched Romana clear away the debris from the well.

"Remember when we were on Arcacia I told you about Pythia?" He murmured, moving her under his arm against his side.

"Yea." She shivered against him and he chuckled, he would have to teach her soon how to regulate her own temperature like he did, but he was quite happy at the moment to keep her as close to him as possible.

"This used to be her temple," He nodded towards the remains. "She was overthrown by Rassilon and threw herself into the chasm back in the dark times." They walked towards Romana. "What's left of it is what's called the untempered schism; it's a tear in reality. That's what we're here for Rose." He regarded her seriously as she looked between him and Romana.

"What will I see?" She questioned them both.

"It's different for each individual," Romana answered her. "It's both a beginning and the end Rose, it is everything, and nothing all at the same time."

The Doctor turned her towards him, grasping both her shoulders, eyes burning into her. "You'll be fine," He assured her. "You can do this Rose." He could feel her fear radiating.

"Don't be afraid." He whispered reaching down to take her hand. "This is the only thing that you must do, the only thing our laws dictate must happen." She nodded and took a wary step towards the well Romana had been clearing around.

"I get through this and we can be together?" She murmured turning back to stare at the Doctor and Romana. He nodded, his expression determined. She stepped up to the well and braced her palms on either side. She took a deep breath and looked over the edge, and on the count of three she opened her eyes.

It was nothing like she expected. There was no pain or fear nor any of the emotions she was expecting to be assaulted with. It was beautiful.

"What do you see Rose?" Romana asked gently as she and the Doctor stepped closer.

"Time." She replied simply. "All of it. And..."

"And?" The Doctor prompted.

"And it's beautiful." She smiled. "Life and death and all things that come before and after."

Romana looked to the Doctor who was grinning his head off.

"She's doing better than you Doctor." Romana smirked, but the expression was short lived as Rose gasped and she slumped over the hole.

"Rose!" The Doctor reached out to grab her but was stopped by Romana.

"Just wait." She pleaded with him as Rose began to speak in a voice not her own. Her eyes were glowing.

"I am the one who bares the gift of Rassilon, I am the creator and my soul burns at the heart of this world. I am the goddess herself, time incarnate and rightful heir of the Sisterhood of Karn, mother of Gallifrey." Her golden eyes flicked to the Doctor and Romana.

"I thank you for bringing me home." Rose smiled. "The curse shall be no more, and this woman, once she is bound to the storm, will be the first mother of Gallifrey, the new Pythia. It is her destiny." Rose walked towards the Doctor.

"Take good care of her." He caught Rose as time gently retreated back into the schism and he lifted her into his arms. Romana stood staring at the two of them, and then decidedly making up her mind about something, she shrugged.

"Well," She chuckled. "Didn't expect that."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow at her before looking back down at Rose as she began to stir in his arms.

"You've certainly got something special there Doctor." Romana smirked. "She keeps pulling little surprises from everywhere."

"Surprises indeed, but I wonder then why don't you seem so Romana?" He eyed her curiously. "In the morgue you spoke to her like you'd already met?"

"Perhaps we have, Doctor." She grinned mysteriously. "After all, there is no such thing as coincidence."

"That's not the first time I've heard that." He mumbled. "And every time I do, it just makes me believe this is some sort of conspiracy."

"Or a prophecy?" Romana laughed. "But who are you to complain about such things, I know what your future holds, and more importantly, your past, well sort of."

"Hmmmmm," He frowned. "Someone had it in for the both of us."

"I don't believe that Doctor," Romana moved to help support Rose's weight as they started back down the mountain.

"It appears to me that the essence of you both is so deeply entwined with Gallifrey itself," She stumbled slightly before repositioning Rose between them, "That this is exactly what we need, the combination of the power and insight of the Pythia and the knowledge and strength of the Other. Never again will the Time Lords fall."

"Everything has it's time Romana." He glared at her.

"Indeed it does," She nodded, "One one day we will all be but a memory, but my point is," She stressed, "Is that now, we will have a proper future, a replenishing of brand new souls Doctor." She breathed beaming at him. "You and Rose represent the siring of the first line of natural born Gallifreyans, no looms or genetics, just life in all its beauty and mystery."

"Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?" He scolded. "We haven't even got to the wedding yet, let alone the binding that your little fantasy would require."

"It's not a fantasy Doctor, it's the future." She eyed him seriously. "Besides it will not take long, your seed will dominate..."

"Romana," He snapped at her. "I'm well aware of my own biology thank you very much, and if you wouldn't mind awfully shutting up for the rest of the trip, you're giving me a headache." She was nearly as bad as Jack, except he decided for now he would rather the light quips the man made continuously rather than Romana's lectures of the continuation of the species.


	19. Chapter 19

It had been a month since the untempered schism and both Rose and the Doctor had spent much of their time helping to rebuild the foundations of the once lost mighty civilisation. Things had progressed faster than anyone had expected and now Kasterborous shone brightly in its place in the universe, the suns and moons and planets all restored as they had been before the war. Order had begun to return to the universe and with it came whispers of other beings gathering in wait for what was to come.

Romana had taken Rose to see her family in the other universe just over two weeks ago and both had got along like a house on fire. It was helpful having her there when she explained what had happened to her instead of the Doctor, Jackie would have just started slapping him Rose was sure and wouldn't have stopped until he regenerated at least twice. When she finally did get a chance to see him however, a little under a week later she was a sobbing wreck, covering him in motherly kisses and spoiling him with banana flavoured this and that.

Jackie nearly fainted of course when the Doctor asked for her help in organising the wedding, at Romana's request of course, which was fine with Rose because it gave her time to spend with the Doctor and the other Time Lords helping to set up protocols and strategies in the event of universal catastrophe. Romana had become fast friends with her mother as well as herself and considered her as almost her soon to be mother-in-law considering her history with the Doctor and in light of his lack of actual family. Plus she told him what to do in a motherly fashion which provided no end of amusement for Rose and much muttering and annoyed eye rolling from her Time Lord.

Two days ago Romana had dragged Rose away from the Doctor and almost half way across the planet to a garden nestled beside Mt Cadon. When she'd asked where they were going Romana had given her a long suffering glance and deposited her on a stone tablet beneath a large vibrant purple tree with weeping foliage that swayed gently in the breeze. Romana offered no explanation until tiny winged creatures had swarmed and sparkled around them and at her prompting Rose had lifted her arms as the tiny things ducked and weaved around her, spinning glittering cob-web like thread at a million times a minute and she watched in astonishment. She watched as robes began to materialise around her friend and Rose glanced down at herself but had no words to describe the beauty of what they were designing, nor the magical way in which they produced it. It was her wedding dress, and it was well beyond anything she could have imagined. Judging by the look on Romana's face she also approved.

The time was suddenly upon them and two hours ago Romana had left along with the Doctor to pick up their friends from time and space. She hadn't seen him since the day prior and her hand had begun to itch from his absence along with another strange tickling sensation in the back of her mind. What Rose didn't know was that in the event of a bonding ceremony, it was customary to have all regenerations of said Time Lord present. After all it wasn't just one of them she'd be bound too.

Rose sat staring out at the wondrous domed city and its shining spires, she turned when the reflection of Pete Tyler join hers on the glass surface. He gazed proudly at the daughter who both was and wasn't his and she stood as he stepped in front of her.

"Hi," She grinned.

"Hello love," He brushed a hand across her cheek, "You look gorgeous."

"Thanks Dad." She reached down to the dresser and took the halo of yellow flowers and silver leaves and placed it gently over the braids and twirls of Romana's handy work. Pete gently straightened it and brushed a long dark blond curling tendril off her face.

"Ready?" He smiled passing her the elaborate bouquet of her name sakes.

"Oh yes." She agreed taking his arm as he led her out through a long corridor to where Romana stood waiting by the doors.

Rose knew that behind those doors waited her Doctor and both her new and old families. She took a deep breath as Romana swept around adjusting her dress or hair where she felt appropriate before taking her place beside her. With a quick glance at Rose she gave a nod and the door to the Panopticon cracked open with a flash of bright light.

The ceiling was open wide, Polarfrey, Pazithi and Gallifreya clearly visible through the dome along with the twin shining suns as the scarlet and orange banners of the Prydonian Academy adorned the walls in a reflection of the burnt orange sky. Memento Mori and red rose petals littered the floor between the two large groups of friends and family who had turned towards them at the sound of the doors opening. Rose gasped at the sight before her. A thousand Time Lords standing to attention as they moved along the centre of the room, defined by the regal coloured robes of the chapter houses, the Arcalian's in green and brown, Patrexes in effervescent heliotrope, Dromeian's in silver-grey, Cerulean in light blue and finally the subdued colours of the Scendles contrasting starkly with the rest of the Prydonian chapter as they gathered at the front to the right of the Doctor**.**

Rose briefly registered her Mother and Tony beside Jack, Martha and Mickey, Donna and a beaming Sarah-Jane but her attention was focused more entirely on the Doctor in brown pin-stripes and converse that grinned wildly at her and the nine other men who stood behind him. She smile split her face and she blushed as the one in leather gave her a little wave and a grin almost as large as his counter-parts. Rose finally stepped up onto the dais beside her grinning idiot and Romana moved so she was standing facing the gathering in the space between them. She turned to Pete.

"Peter Tyler," Romana smiled, "Do you consent and gladly give?"

"I do," Pete smiled as he kissed his daughters cheek giving Rose's hand to Romana before returning to his wife's side in the crowd. Rose watched as he tucked a blubbering Jackie under his arm. Romana turned towards the Doctors and taking the hand of the one in pinstripes she gently placed Rose's small hand over his, watching as his thumb swept up over her fingers to hold her to him. She glanced at the other Doctor's.

"Do you consent and gladly give?"

"We do." The ten men spoke as one.

"Then we shall begin," She nodded speaking now to the congregation.

"Welcome to you all and thank you for joining us to celebrate this most joyous event, the first in our new history."

"To the ancient Gods of the Menti Celesti, Gaurdians of the Six-Fold Realm, I ask thee to accept this couple, their love, and their binding for as long as they shall live in love together. May they each enjoy a healthy life filled with joy, love, stability and fertility." The Doctor glared at Romana who quirked an eyebrow.

"We call to you now," She revealed several pieces of silky thread from her robes, one red, one black, one white and the final, a silvery gray. The air shimmered behind Romana as five glittering beings phased into view behind her. Even the Doctor's gasped at the ethereal beings present, Rose hearing a soft Northern burr whisper the name 'Eternals'. Each one stepped forward to touch the ribbons as Romana invoked them, dissolving themselves into the binding.

"Light." She turned to the East, "May you be blessed with communication, intellectual growth, and wisdom."

"Life," She turned to the South, knotting the ribbons as she went, "May you be blessed with harmony, vitality, creativity, and passion."

"Pain," She turned to the West, "May you be blessed with friendship, intuition, caring, understanding, and love."

"Time," She faced the North, "May you be blessed with tenderness, happiness, compassion, and sensuality."

"And finally, Death," She turned to face them weaving the last thread in place and fastening their joined hands together with it as the last light of the Eternal settled into the knots, fusing them, "May you survive it together until the very last and walk into eternity hand in hand."

"In all the eons, the long slow climb of evolution has no greater culmination than the union of those in love. From the time the first amoeba fissioned into two, there has been the possibility of companionship - and the possibility of loneliness.  
We have all seen war, loneliness, and desolation, and the soul of Gallifrey mourns all that was lost. But when there are those of us who love enough to make a commitment such as this, the very stars rejoice at the rediscovery of love, joy, and bounty."

"Do you now commit to each other to love, honor, respect each other, to communicate with each other and provide a healthy home for children and to be a support and comfort for your partner in times of sickness and health, as long as love shall last?"

"We do." They both replied.

"Then take her before you." Romana nodded and the Doctor pulled Rose closer to him as he took her other hand.

"Rose Marion Tyler," He smiled happily, "Will you join me in life as my partner, my equal once again, as I travel on the sacred path to higher consciousness. I give to you from my hearts, my pledge of truthfulness, commitment, and the freedom to soar as high as the birds as we learn to love each other, love our family and serve Gallifrey. I give you myself as a reminder of your strength and your vision, as I open to you my hearts and my mind, to give and to feel the great joy and happiness, as you join me as my wife." Rose giggled as he waggled his eyebrows at her.

"My Doctor," She began, gazing up at him, "Time's Champion, Keeper of the Legacy of Rassilon, final kithriarch of Lungbarrow, defender of the Laws of Time and Lord High President and Protector of Gallifrey." She breathed, the beginnings of a smirk quirking her lip, "Yes, I will join you as an equal, my hearts and mind are yours, forever."

He giggled and grinned down at her as Romana continued.

"Circles represent eternity, and though our lives are eventually finite, love is everlasting, the creative force that binds us together, the force that gives new life." The Doctor narrowed his eyes at Romana again, amusement dancing in her ancient eyes as she presented him and Rose each with a silver band.

"The blessings of the wind upon these rings and your love, that you share communication and creativity." She began. "The blessings of fire upon these rings and your love, that you share passion and spirit. Water upon these rings and your love, that you share adoration and compassion and finally the blessings of Gallifrey upon these rings and your love, a symbol of shared health and sexuality."

Rose laughed a little at the Doctor's eye roll, apparently Romana was damned adamant about the continuation of the species, but Rose thought perhaps it wasn't so much that but rather she was looking for something to occupy her time and dote upon. If she didn't know any better she'd have said that their friend was getting 'clucky' herself. Romana gave Rose a knowing look.

Her attention returned to the Doctor as he moved to slide the shining silver ring onto her finger and he grinned as she returned the gesture. They moved together to press their now opened palms together between them and their eyes slipped closed. As their minds reached out to each other tendrils of golden light encased their bound hands and spun around the two, sparkling and entwining over and around and under them, encasing both their forms in a maelstrom of colours. Romana spoke as they watched the binding before them.

"We are born of stardust and deepest oceans, of erupting volcanoes and the bones of the earth. In celebrating love you celebrate a heritage of all these things, and of the love of all from the dawn of time. In making a commitment to loving each other, you share that which is best in us and give a moment of light to not only Gallifrey but the Universe at large."

Their golden aura intensified signalling the final stages and with a gasp from the two of them the light dissolved around them and dropped glittering specks of dust to the floor at their feet, absorbing into floor and down into the eye of harmony itself. Time bent for a fraction of a second and then continued along its merry way throughout the universe.

"May I present to you," Romana beamed, "The Doctor and Rose, Lord and Lady President of Gallifrey." A cheer rang out from the gathering but the two only had eyes for each other.

"Isn't this the part when I get to kiss the bride?" The Doctor mused with a smirk.

"Of definitely." Rose breathed, and promptly forgot how as his lips descended upon hers.

"Alright," Nine quipped nudging his tenth self in the ribs, "Save it for later."

Ten pulled back with a snort of laughter and lifted Rose up off the ground in a fierce embrace, spinning her around before depositing her into the arms of his predecessor.

"Hi," She grinned up at him.

"Rose Tyler," He beamed, "You will never cease to amaze me. Even if I don't remember this for ages, I'm so glad I met you."

"Me too." She pulled him down by the lapels and planted a not quite chaste kiss on his mouth.

When she released him he stood by Ten noting his smug expression. It was Nine's turn to smirk as he watched Rose engage Eight in the snog of his life too. He joined his future selves quite bemused as they watched her progress through each regeneration a little more conservatively, they noted, at least until she got to Five anyways. He appeared equally as perplexed if not a little aroused by the whole thing. Finally she reached One and offered him her hand which he accepted gratefully, placing a kiss to the back of it. With a nod she returned to her Doctor in pinstripes and took his hand.

"My Doctor." She grinned casting a glance at all of them.

"That we are love," Eight smiled, "That we are."


End file.
